


My She-Wolf

by DrogonTheDragon



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, But it's going somewhere, Crying, Death, Drama, Drunkenness, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Explicit in later chapters, Friendship, Guilt, I have NOT abandoned this story, I sorta forgot that Theon was a character until chapter 7... oops, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm not entirely sure where this story is going, I'm pretty sure it will have a happy ending, Love, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ramsay isn't evil, Roose is evil, Secrets, Slow Burn, TEMPORARY Hiatus, Time Jump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-02-26 10:48:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13234089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrogonTheDragon/pseuds/DrogonTheDragon
Summary: Rhaegar Targaryen won Robert’s Rebellion. Jon grew up as a Targaryen and lives in King’s Landing. When the Royal Family visits Winterfell, the King creates a betrothal between Jon and Arya Stark. Arya is so against this idea, that she runs away. When she returns five years later, things are not what she expected.*There will be a time jump in between chapters 1 and 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thank you for clicking on this story!  
> Second, I would like to apologize in advance for my bad grammar  
> Third, I hope you enjoy! :)

“I do not think that Arya would take too kindly to this proposition,” Ned said looking out the window of his solar in Winterfell. He watched as his daughter Arya and his nephew Jon were practicing with sparring swords. This happened every time the King came to Winterfell. Jon and Arya would always sneak off to practice sparring when they thought that no one saw them. “She is only 11 years old Your Grace. Surely there's someone else closer to Jon’s age?” 

“He recently turned ten and five Ned. They would be luckier than most to be so close in age.” 

Ned knew that King Rhaegar was right, but he couldn’t stand the thought of Arya leaving Winterfell for King's Landing. He knew that as Warden of the North he had to give his daughters away to prominent houses to create alliances, but the thought of his youngest girl leaving? He couldn’t bare to think about it. Sansa is already being courted by Willas Tyrell. House Tyrell have been trying for several years to create an alliance with house Stark. Ned and Catelyn assumed that Robb would marry Margaery, but alas Willas Tyrell swooped in first. 

King Rhaegar walked over to the window to watch the duo spar. Jon must have won this round because Arya was sitting on the ground sporting a large frown. Jon said something that must have angered her. _‘He probably called her a Lady’_ The King thought to himself. But half a second later Arya was smiling and laughing. 

“See how well they get along. They would be a perfect match!” 

Ned had to admit that the cousins were always thick as thieves whenever they were together. The King usually came to Winterfell every two years. And during that time Ned would always find the two together in the Godswood, in the Great Hall, in the Stables, or wandering the castle. The Starks usually visited the capital every two years as well. This way the families would get to see each other once a year. In the Capital the two would always sneak off through hidden passageways, or go for riding contests (which Arya always won), or go wandering through the Red Keep. They would disappear for hours at a time. Sometimes both Ned and Rhaegar would have to send their guards out searching for them. But the two would always return and act as though they were there the whole time. 

“Your Grace, Arya is young and wild. Her whole life she has been telling me that she will not be the Lady who marries a Lord. She will not spend her time sewing and teaching her daughters how to curtsy. I know that one day she will marry into a house and most likely do all the things she claims she will never do, but she is not Lyanna.” Ned turned and looked the King right in the eyes, “My sister loved you. She was fierce and wild just like Arya. But unlike Lyanna, Arya will not allow herself to fall in love and be swept off her feet. Maybe in a few years she will be able to accept that she must marry. But at the age of eleven, she will not.” 

King Rhaegar looked back out the window. He knew the words that Ned spoke were true. No matter how similar they were, Arya was not Lyanna. For years Rhaegar has been proposing the idea of the alliance to Ned. But deep down Rhaegar knew that the real reason he wanted Arya to marry into the family, was because he wanted Lyanna back. 

“Lord Stark,” Rhaegar said as he watched Arya hit Jon in the shoulder with her sparring sword, “you do make a valid point. However, I feel that we should at least mention the idea of a betrothal to the children. They may be more acceptable of this union than you believe.” 

_‘Or they may be more against it than you believe’_ Ned thought to himself. He knew that he was not allowed to deny the King anymore than he already has done. Even though the two get along, Ned still would not risk angering the dragon. 

“Allow me to speak to my wife about this union first. Catelyn would have my head if I suggested a marriage proposal for Arya without consulting with her first.”

Rhaegar smiled and roared with laughter. “You do that my friend! We shall speak with them privately before dinner.” 

“Of course Your Grace. Would you like this meeting to be held in my solar?” Ned tried to hide his surprise. He didn’t imagine that they would speak to the children on this matter _today._

“Sounds marvelous! I’ll be here 30 minutes before dinner!” Rhaegar didn’t even try to suppress his grin as he walked out of Ned’s solar. Instead of walking to his room, he decided that he should go to the crypt under Winterfell. He wanted to pay his respects to Lyanna’s grave once more. 

* * *

“Watch your step Underfoot!” Aegon called out to Arya. He was standing on the ramparts of Winterfell watching his little brother train with his cousin. 

Arya’s face turned dark red as she looked up at him. Her face was scrunched up and her eyes were staring daggers at him. Aegon knew that Arya always hated that nickname. _Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface._ Aegon always thought that they were stupid nicknames. But he couldn’t help himself, it was too much fun to tease the young Stark girl. 

“Don’t let your Master of Arms see how you hold a sword. He’ll be thoroughly repulsed!”

Arya was tired of him always taunting her. It was bad enough when Sansa and Jeyne would call her ‘Horseface’, but Aegon always used one of her nicknames whenever he saw her. Every greeting, every meal, every goodbye. He would just smirk whenever Jon would have to hold her back so she wouldn’t punch him. He was the Crown Prince after all. 

“What’s wrong Horseface? Cat got your tongue?” 

“She’s not a horse, she’s a She-Wolf” Jon said in his cousins defense. Arya smiled up at Jon and stuck her tongue out at Aegon. Jon knew how Arya hated being called those names. He would never call her by them. 

“Stop looking so high and mighty,” she called up to Aegon, “Why don’t you come down here? I need a new practice dummy.” 

“Oh Arya you wound me!” Aegon said as he held his hands up to his heart. He always enjoyed dramatics. “How is it that one little Horse Faced maiden can cause me so much emotional strife?” He threw his arms into the air and looked up to the sky as he began his sarcastic monologue. “Oh Father, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Warrior, Smith, Stranger! I ask you what I have done to deserve this She-Wolf? I try to give her advice on her fighting stance and she threatens to run me through with her sword. What shall happen next? If I offer her a slice of bread, will she shove me into the dirt? If I compliment the way she wears her hair, will I wake up without a tongue?I don’t know how to tame this wench! I pray to The Seven everyday and ask for an answer.” 

When Aegon looked down he saw saw that Arya was trying to suppress a smile. Arya always thought that Aegon would be much better as an actor than a ruler. Aegon had good negotiating skills and wanted peace for the kingdom, but his heart wasn’t in it. He never wanted to be King. He tried to steer away from the politics of Westeros and tried to entertain the people. Whenever the Starks came to King’s Landing, he would put on a one man play for all of the Stark children. 

Aegon walked down the ramparts and over to where Jon and Arya were. As he walked he saw two very large shadows start to form. He looked up and saw a large heap of white and brown fur prowl towards them. Aegon still couldn’t believe how big the direwolves have gotten. Two years ago he was secretly teaching Arya archery when the Stark clan appeared out of nowhere holding 5 pups. Arya discreetly hid her bow and arrows behind a barrel full of pitch. Then Robb walked over to her and handed her one of the pups. _‘This is a direwolf,’_ he said _‘we found its mother dead in the woods. This is for you. You have to train her, feed her, and take care of her. This isn’t just any pet. Direwolves are ferocious, but this one will be loyal to you.’_ Then Aegon watched as Jon emerged from outside the castle walls holding his own pup. The only difference was that his stood out. It looked smaller than the others and had white fur with bright red eyes. The direwolves have grown almost larger than Arya in the past two years. Back in the Red Keep, the people were always so afraid of Ghost. They would run when they saw him coming. Aegon thinks that one of the reasons Jon enjoys seeing his cousin’s so much is because Ghost gets to spend time with the others Direwolves. 

“Arya Stark!” They turned around to find a furious Catelyn Stark marching over toward them. 

“Seven Hells!” Aegon heard Arya mutter to herself. Both he and Jon stood behind her, using her as a human shield. 

“What do you think you are doing!” Her words could be heard throughout Winterfell. “You missed your lesson with Septa Mordane! Your hair is coming out of your braids, and you ruined the dress that Princess Daenerys brought you!” Catelyn was exhausted as looked down at the blue gown Princess Daenerys gave Arya a fortnight ago, now covered in dirt. She has argued with her daughter about this topic hundreds of times before. “You need to grow up and learn how to be a Lady just like Sansa!” 

Arya kept a straight face, but her eyes told another story. She wanted to scream back at her mother. She wanted to yell and say that she isn’t a lady, and if she ever became one, then she would never be as good a Lady as Sansa. But Arya just stood there. She didn’t say a word. 

Catelyn was not expecting that. She assumed that Arya would start yelling as she   
usually does, but she stayed quiet. _‘Maybe she is learning to be Lady already’_ she thought to herself. “Now come with me. You need to take a bath and you have a meeting with your father in his solar thirty minutes before dinner.” That news seemed to make Arya forget that she was a mute. 

“What meeting?” She asked, “Father never said anything to me about a meeting?” 

“Well he and King Rhaegar request a meeting with you and your cousin,” Jon looked just as confused as Arya. “I suggest that both of you make yourselves look presentable.” And with that Catelyn turned around grabbing Arya’s wrist as they walked inside the castle. 

“The Dragon requests a meeting with the White Wolf,” Rhaegar slaps his hand down on Jon’s shoulder as he looks into his brothers dark grey eyes, “What did you do this time brother? Did you and your little ‘she-wolf’ get caught sneaking into the kitchens in the middle of the night once again?” And with that, Aegon turned around and marched into the castle leaving his brother alone with his wolf. 

* * *

“I don’t want to wear a dress!” Arya yelled as her mother tried to brush her dripping wet hair. 

“Consider it your punishment for ruining the dress Princess Daenerys gave you” Catelyn said to her stubborn daughter. 

“You have to wear a dress Arya,” Sansa reasoned. Her mother insisted on having Sansa and Arya get ready together. “this is a private meeting with _the King _and Father. You must look presentable for once.”__

__“I always look presentable, _you _just don't believe that breeches make a girl look presentable.”___ _

____“Arya put this on” Lady Stark said as she placed a grey dress made of wool in front of her. There was nothing grand about the dress. It was simple. Which was perfect for Arya. “Sansa, dear, put this one on.” This dress was the complete opposite of Arya’s. The dress was bright pink and made of silk. It had a golden thread woven into it from the waist down. On each shoulder lay one large red rose stitched into it._ _ _ _

____“Oh mother's it's beautiful!” Sansa yelled excitedly as she ran her hands along the soft fabric._ _ _ _

____“It was sent last week from Highgarden,” Sansa couldn't help but blush. She was always being treated to many gifts from Ser. Willas Tyrell. She is always sent packages that include dresses, jewelry, perfumes, oils, and much more. Every month Sansa is sent a large bouquet of Flowers that only grow in Highgarden. Arya thinks it's a waste of time because the flowers are already dead by the time they arrive. But it doesn't matter to Sansa. Everytime she receives them she squeals and smells them as though they just bloomed._ _ _ _

____“Mother,” Arya said as she tries to change to topic from dresses to other matters, “What is this meeting about? I haven't seen Father since I broke my fast this morning. He said nothing to me then.”_ _ _ _

____Catelyn just looked down into her daughter's big innocent grey eyes. “My Love if I could tell you, I would. However it is not my place to say.” _‘There also aren't any guards to restrain you If I tell you the truth’_ she thought to herself._ _ _ _

____“Am I in trouble?” She asked with a small tremor in her voice._ _ _ _

____“No My Love, you are not in trouble.” Catelyn gave Arya her most reassuring smile and continued to try to brush her extremely matted hair._ _ _ _

____Arya released a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Arya was strong. She was fierce. She was not the type of girl who cared about what people thought of her. Her reputation meant nothing to her. But one thing she hates doing, is disappointing her father._ _ _ _

____* * *_ _ _ _

____“So what do you think this meeting is about?” Jon asked as he and Arya walked to Lord Stark’s solar. He was wearing black breeches, a black jerkin, and black furs. Arya was jealous that she could not be wearing her breeches. But as soon as this meeting was over she intended to run to her chambers and change into them before anyone noticed she was gone._ _ _ _

____“Nothing good” She said as they stopped in front of the solar doors. Jory Cassel was stationed outside the solar along with two members of the Kingsguard._ _ _ _

____“Good evening My Prince,” Jory said as he bowed to Jon, “My Lady” he bowed to Arya. Before she could give him a snarky remark, the door opened and the King of the Seven Kingdoms appeared and invited them in._ _ _ _

____Something was wrong. Arya knew it immediately. The room looked the same but the atmosphere was different. It seemed colder, more depressing. Ned wouldn’t meet her eyes. ‘Bad news. They are going to deliver bad news’ she thought. But then she realized that only her father seemed to be in a bad mood. King Rhaegar looked happier than usual. _Too happy._ _ _ _ _

____“Father,” Jon said looking confused, “Why have you and Lord Stark summoned us here?”_ _ _ _

____“Well you see, Jon, Lord Stark and I have been discussing for quite a long time about joining our houses,” Rhaegar looked at both of the children’s faces. They looked extremely lost. _‘Probably think I’m talking about Robb and Daenerys’._ “And we both agree that we think it would be best if we created a marriage alliance between Houses Targaryen and Stark. Lord Stark and I have agreed that in order to do this, that the two of you shall be married.” _ _ _ _

____Arya looked up at her father. Ned kept his head down. He was apparently much more interested in the tile on the floor than this conversation. Arya felt faint. She does not want to get married. Her father knows that, Her mother knows that. Her siblings know that. Jon knows that too. Everyone in the North must know it by now._ _ _ _

____“No.” Jon said_ _ _ _

____Rhaegar looked up to see Jon storm out of Lord Stark’s solar. Before he could act, Arya ran out after him._ _ _ _

____“Well that went better than I expected.” Ned said._ _ _ _

____Arya was running off to find Jon. She looked down every corridor, every secret passageway, and even looked in his room and she couldn’t find him anywhere. It made no sense to her. She left the solar right after Jon, _‘How did he get away so fast?’_ she wondered. _ _ _ _

____It was almost time for dinner when Arya realised she didn’t change out of her dress yet. While running back to her rooms, she ran into her mother who brought her to the Great Hall._ _ _ _

____“You knew didn’t you?” Arya accused her mother._ _ _ _

____“I found out earlier today.” Catelyn admitted._ _ _ _

____“Why wouldn’t you try to stop it?! You know that I don’t want to get married! Jon doesn’t even want to marry me. He disappeared right after King Rhaegar announced that he intends to wed us!”_ _ _ _

____“Arya,” Catelyn bent down so she could be eye level with Arya. “King Rhaegar has been trying to have a betrothal between you and Jon for several years now. Your Father kept putting it off, but the King will not take ‘no’ for an answer. So your Father had no choice. Besides it could be much worse. You and Jon get along so well. You might of had to marry someone you hate or a man you didn’t know, but instead you will marry a man you love-”_ _ _ _

____“-I do not _love_ Jon!”_ _ _ _

____“You may not love him in a romantic way. But you do love him”_ _ _ _

____When everyone settled down in the Great Hall Arya noticed that Jon wasn't there. Throughout the whole meal Ned refused to look at his youngest daughter. Sansa tried to make conversation with Arya, but Arya was mute for the remainder of dinner. Sansa gave up and started talking to Daenerys about dresses._ _ _ _

____After dinner ended, the only two who remained in the Great Hall were Ned and Arya.  
“I had no choice Arya.” His voice was full of pain as he spoke these words. “The King wanted you to marry his son. So in a few years you will leave Winterfell for King's Landing.” _ _ _ _

____“Why does nobody care what I want?” and with that Arya stormed out of the Great Hall. As she walked she heard the very recognizable obnoxious laugh of Aegon._ _ _ _

____“He… he wants you... to marry an eleven year old” Aegon roared with laughter. Arya would have run around the corner and punched him, but she wanted hear this conversation_ _ _ _

____“Yes. Yes he wants me to marry Arya Horseface! Is that what you want to hear” Jon’s angry, bitter words rang through her ears._ _ _ _

_____‘He wants me to marry Arya Horseface’_ _ _ _ _

____Arya ran to her room through a secret passageway by the kitchens. She slammed her chamber door closed, ripped off her dress, and she no longer could contain her sobs. Her best friend had just referred to her by one of the nicknames she hates. Her best friend thinks of her how Sansa and Jeyne think of her. Her throat clenched as her cries escaped. Her chest felt tight. She started to scream in between her sobs. Arya ripped off the furs from her feather bed. She kicked over her table and chair. She screamed and cried but no one came to her room that night. No one came to see if she was alright._ _ _ _

____The next morning Arya woke up and realised that she needed to change. She needed to become the person she wants to be, not the person she is told to be. She got up and put on a pair of brown breeches and a tan tunic. Dawn had barely broken which meant that the training yard would be deserted. Arya did not go to Jon’s room to see if he would train with her. She went on her own. _‘He betrayed me last night. I no longer need his help. I am a lone wolf now.’__ _ _ _

____Over the next two weeks Arya ignored Jon. She would sit in between Sansa and her Mother at meals. She would go to Septa Mordane’s lessons instead of going riding or sparring with Jon. She spent many evening praying in the Godswood. Asking the Old Gods to tell her how to become the person she was meant to be. Whenever Jon would walk towards her, she would turn and walk in the opposite direction. During the few interactions they’ve had, Jon would ask her to go riding or to train. But Arya would look him in the eye and say that she had lessons with Septa Mordane._ _ _ _

____Jon assumed that she wanted her space, but eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you avoiding me?” he asked before she had time to go running in the opposite direction. “I understand that you don’t want to marry me. I don’t want to marry you either. But I need you to speak to me again.” Arya just stared, waiting for him to continue. “I am leaving in two days time and I will not leave with you angry at me!”_ _ _ _

____Arya stared at Jon’s grey eyes that matched her own. She then turned around and walked away._ _ _ _

____* * *_ _ _ _

____Arya heard a faint knocking on her door. The Royal family was leaving Winterfell in one hour and Arya had not left her room all day. Someone knocked again, only this time it was stronger with much more urgency. Arya sighed as she went to open the door. Jon was standing there holding a package wrapped in cloth._ _ _ _

____“Can I come in?” His voice was gruff and gravelly, he looked as though he hasn’t slept. When she didn’t move Jon walked passed her and sat on her bed. “I have a gift for you.”_ _ _ _

____“A present?” the corners of her mouth raised slightly and Jon took that as a good sign._ _ _ _

____“Close the door” Once it was closed Jon slowly began to unwrap the cloth and revealed a small thin blade. Arya’s eyes widened once she saw what he was holding. It was not proper for a girl to handle a sword, even a sword so skinny. “This is not toy.” he said as he unsheathed the blade. “Be careful you don’t cut yourself.”_ _ _ _

____Jon handed it to Arya and she was surprised that it was so light. As she waved it in the air it felt like water. “It’s so skinny” She couldn’t contain her smile anymore. Her grin was wide and welcoming. Jon was happy to see it again._ _ _ _

____“So are you.” Jon couldn’t contain his smile either. “I had the Blacksmith make it for you special. It won’t hack a man’s head off, but it can poke him full of holes if you’re quick enough”_ _ _ _

____“I can be quick!”_ _ _ _

____“You’ll have to work at it everyday. How’s it feel? Do you like the balance?”_ _ _ _

____Arya’s fingers were gliding along the edges of the blade. “I think so.” She wasn’t exactly sure how the balance should feel. The blade was extremely light, but she knew that it was supposed to be that way._ _ _ _

____Jon bent down so he could be eye level with her. “First lesson: stick em’ with the pointy end.”_ _ _ _

____Arya rolled her eyes so fast Jon wanted to laugh “I know which end to use”_ _ _ _

____“I hope that this blade helps you figure you are. I never want to see you become a Lady like Sansa or your Mother. I want you to be yourself and embrace who you want to be. Now I’m not telling you to skewer people, but I hope this helps you figure out who you are.”_ _ _ _

____Arya looked into Jon’s big eyes. This was the nicest thing he has ever done for her. The nicest thing _anyone_ has ever done for her. She put down her new blade on the table next to her and jumped into his arms. He smelled like snow and smoke. She missed his smell. _ _ _ _

____“I’m going to miss you” He said as he breathed her in. She smelled of snow, pine, and nature. These past two weeks have made him feel incredibly empty. He had no idea how much he missed her until right now. “All the best swords have names you know.”_ _ _ _

____She rested her pointy chin on his shoulder. She wasn’t saying anything, but he could tell that she was thinking. It was a few minutes before she spoke. “Sansa can keep her sewing needles. I’ve got a Needle of my own.”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____* * *_ _ _ _

____Ned sat in his solar reading a letter that was sent to him from the King. The King’s party had left Winterfell almost two moons ago. Both he and King Rhaegar agreed that a betrothal between Arya and Jon would be announced next year when the Starks travelled to King's Landing. But King Rhaegar wished that it would be announced earlier. The letter that he sent Ned stated that he wished to announce that his son Jon would begin a courtship with Lady Arya. But Ned read in between the lines. The King wanted to speed up this alliance and he wanted the other Houses to know that Arya Stark was taken._ _ _ _

____So Ned took the letter and began to walk towards his youngest daughters chambers. He knew that Arya would be furious if her ‘courtship’ was announced and she wasn’t told. It was still rather early in the morning, however Ned knew that his daughter would be awake. The castle corridors seemed eerily quiet. The guards who were stationed at their posts stood as still as statues when he walked past. When Ned reached his daughters chamber he knocked on her door. Ned waited a moment before knocking again. Nothing. Ned slowly opened the door in case she was still asleep, but her bed was empty. Ned then walked outside to check if she was training in the courtyard, but she wasn’t there. He checked everywhere he could think of. The Godswood, the kitchen, the stables, the forge, the great hall. She was nowhere to be found. He went back to her room and tried to look for something that would indicate where she was._ _ _ _

____Once he was there, he saw a note on her bed._ _ _ _

_____Dear Father,  
I’ve decided that it is time that I become the person I was always meant to be. I am no lady. That is known. So I have decided that I am leaving Winterfell to figure who that person is. I cannot promise that I will be back anytime soon. I don’t know when the next time I see you will be. Please give my apologies to King Rhaegar, for I do not believe I will be back in time for my wedding.   
With Loving Regards,  
Arya Stark __ _ _ _

____Ned felt all of the blood rush from his body. He felt the air escape his lungs. He could feel himself falling. _‘No this can’t be! This can’t be! My daughter would never leave Winterfell voluntarily’__ _ _ _

____“Guards!” Ned yelled as loud as he could. “Guards!” Ned was determined. He was going to find her daughter and bring her home._ _ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

All of Winterfell was looking for Arya. Robb lead a search party that ventured south for two weeks before they returned home. Ned Stark had sent ravens to all of the Northern houses to have men search for her. He even sent a raven to Castle Black. All of them ravens that came back have had no news. Arya has been missing for a whole moon. The longer she was gone, the more Ned thought he would never find her. Nymeria had disappeared as well. She traveled south with Robb, only she refused to come back North with him. Sansa spent her time praying in the Godswood for Arya’s safe return. Catelyn has spent every morning and every evening in the Sept praying to the seven. She would spend the rest of the day in their shared chambers crying. As the months passed by, Ned realised that Arya would only come home when she wanted to come back. He only wished he knew when that would be. 

After she had been missing for a week, Ned had written to King Rhaegar explaining the situation. 

* * *

When the news had reached King's Landing, Jon could hardly think straight. _‘Arya Stark has fled Winterfell’_ This wasn’t possible! The Arya he knew would never leave Winterfell. Whenever she came to visit the capital, she always talked about returning to her home. She loved it there more than anywhere in the world _‘Something must have happened because Arya would never leave Winterfell!’_

King Rhaegar was furious. He was going to wait one year for Arya Stark to return. If she didn’t, then he had to create a new marriage for Jon. This meant that more royal families, who had young daughters of age, had been visiting the capital more often. Women would throw themselves at Jon. Aegon found it hilarious. Jon found it frustrating. He felt that no one cared about how Arya was missing. After four moons had gone by, he went to talk to his father about going to Winterfell to help look for her. 

“Absolutely not.” Rhaegar said without even looking up at him. 

“Why not? Arya has been missing for four moons. She is my best friend and I can’t do anything to help while I’m here!”

“And what are you going to do there!” Rhaegar stood up so fast his chair fell over. “Her own family cannot find her! All of the northern houses have searched for and they still haven’t found her! The only thing you can do is entertain the ladies at court. With Lady Arya gone, we need to create a new alliance.”

Jon could hardly believe what his father was saying. “So instead of looking for Arya, you want me to find a new women to marry?” He could feel all of his anger building up in his chest.

“Yes, that is what I am saying.” 

“ DOES SHE MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!” Rhaegar was surprised to witness Jon lose control. He usually appeared solemn and humble. He rarely ever lost his composure. 

“I do care about the Stark girl, but she has created problems. Problems that I have to fix. Now I need you to go to court and entertain the women of worthy houses.” Jon couldn’t even look at his father. “If Arya does not return in six moons then I will have to create a new alliance. You should spend your time finding a women you like.” 

“She’ll come back. I’m sure of it” 

“Yes, she will come back. But when will that be?” 

* * *

A year later the Starks travelled to King's Landing. But to Jon’s disappointment, Arya was not with them. She has been gone for a year and a half. King Rhaegar was speaking to him every week with a new marriage prospect. But every time Jon would turn him down. He never connected with any of them the way he had with Arya. But Jon kept wondering what would happen if Arya had returned? He still does not wish to marry her. Mayhaps if Arya were older he would have agreed to their union, but alas she is only eleven. _‘Or twelve now I suppose’_ he thought. _‘But none of that matters. She is too young.’_

Aegon put on his one man play for the Stark children, but it appeared that the Starks weren’t in the best of moods. Jon wondered if they blamed him for Arya’s disappearance. 

“How have you been doing Jon?” Lord Eddard had asked him one night during supper. 

“As well as I normally am.” Jon said as he chugged a horn or ale. 

Ned chuckled knowing that they meant he wasn’t doing well. “I imagine your father is putting a lot of pressure on you”

“As usual Uncle, you are correct.” Ned noticed a smile beginning to form on his nephew's face. 

“He has me go to every small council meeting, every hearing for the commoners, he is even suggesting that I go to Dorne to negotiate terms on trade. I don’t understand why I must do all of these things. I am second in line, not first. Aegon will be the King once Father dies and then he will have children of his own who will be his successors.”

“Well you must always be prepared. If something were to happen to Aegon before he has any male heirs, then the throne would pass to you.” Jon knew that was true, but he did not want the Throne. He has seen what the lust for power has done to people and he wants no part of it. Years ago the former Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish, had been conspiring to steal the throne from his Father. Once his Father found out, he had him beheaded in front of the Sept of Baelor. 

“So where is the rest of your family?” Ned said, changing the topic, “I don’t think I’ve ever been in the Capital with so few Targaryens.”

“Well Rhaenys is in Dorne. She’s been spending more and more time there. As you already know, she has never really been a big fan of the Capital.” he said as he drank another horn of ale. “And Viserys travelled to Essos with Daenerys last month. They decided to take a trip to Pentos. They are staying at the palace of one of the friends of our Master of Whispers.” 

“And you and Aegon are still here.” 

“And Aegon and I are still here” 

* * * 

The Starks left a month after they arrived. More and more Wildings were breaching the Wall and causing havoc among the Northern citizens, so the Warden of the North was needed in the North once again. 

After they left, Jon was sent to Dorne to discuss trade. Jon enjoyed the break from the Capital. He spent a lot of time with his sister and the Prince of Dorne. His life was more peaceful there than it was in the Capital. The three moons that he spent there have been more peaceful than the past two years. 

“Stay longer Little Brother,” Rhaenys said on the eve before he left. “Don’t go back to the hell that is King’s Landing.” 

“Aren’t Ladies not suppose to curse?” He said with a teasing smile. 

“Well I’m sure I am not the first Lady you have heard curse. I think everyone who has ever met Arya knows that to be true.” Right away the smile melted off of Jon’s face and Rhaenys knew she shouldn’t have said that. “I’m sorry Little Brother,” she said as she reached out to grab his hand, “I wasn’t thinking.”

“You’re right. The words that came out of Arya’s mouth were almost as bad as the ones that come out of the Hounds.” Rhaenys winced at his words. Sandor Clegane was a sore spot for her. Years ago Ser Gregor Clegane, The Mountain, tried to rape her mother Ellia Martell. Ellia had yelled for help and the Hound came to her rescue. The Hound killed The Mountain. But her mother had died a few hours later from a fatal wound The Mountain gave her. Rhaenys was grateful to The Hound, but the thought of her mother’s death was not something she liked to think about. 

“How is the Hound?” She asked as she drank a glass of dornish red. “Is he still refusing to acknowledge that he is an anointed knight?” Jon laughed at her words. After he had killed The Mountain, The Hound was knighted. However he didn’t feel that he deserved it so he doesn’t like to use his title. 

“Of course.” He said as he drank his own cup of red. “He was at court a few moons ago, yelled at a poor stable boy who called him ‘Ser’.”

Rhaenys couldn’t help but laugh. “That poor boy. Sandor nevers learns.” 

The siblings drank a full flagon a wine that night. They laughed and told stories and reminisced over their younger, more carefree years. Jon told his sister how Aegon had gotten in a terrible argument with their father and threatened to join the Night's Watch. Rhaenys told him that the Sand Snakes were teaching her how to fight with spears. Jon wished that he could stay in Sunspear longer, but he knew that he must eventually return home. 

So the next morning Jon left Dorne to go to the Capital. 

* * *

Three years later 

Ned was walking to his solar wearing heavy furs over his leather jerkin. Winter was getting closer and closer. The snowfall was getting heavier and it was coming more often. Ned was exhausted. The noble Lords were breathing down his neck. They were sending more and more ravens about wildings and crop shortages. He needed to time to himself so he could think.   
When he reached his solar he greeted Jory and then walked inside. It was pitch black. His hearth wasn’t lit as it was supposed to, and a window was left open so it was freezing inside. Before he could turn around to tell Jory to fetch a maid, a crisp feminine voice spoke. 

“Hello Father,” 

Ned’s eyes widened. _‘It’s her voice. I know it is!’_ It has been five years since Ned has heard her voice. It sounded different. Her accent soundly strangely foreign. But there was not one doubt in his mind. This was Arya. 

Right away a match was struck and a candle was lit. It rested in the palm of her hand. “Did you miss me?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions... so many reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all my grammatical mistakes

Ned could not believe that his daughter was standing in front of him now. She lit another match and threw it into the hearth creating a fire. She began to light the other candles that were in his solar as well. Ned was not sure what to do. His body felt frozen. His mind was racing, but he could not move. Finally Arya turned to face him. Ned noticed that her outfit was almost identical to his. She wore black breeches and a brown jerkin and her shoulders were draped with grey fur. She wore her hair just as he had. It was shoulder length and the top of it was held together in a knot on the back of her head. A very skinny sword lay on her waist. She looked older. She had a woman's body now. Ned didn’t like it. She was a young child the last time he saw her, now she was a woman grown. She was wearing a small smile. Her eyes were wide looking for acceptance. His feet slowly began to move, taking him with them. Before he knew it, his arms were wrapped around his youngest daughter. She smelled as she used to. Snow, pine, and nature. But there was something else, something spicy. It reminded him of Sansa, but he couldn't place it. 

“What made you come back?” Ned asked with a large smile. 

“Well I couldn't miss my brothers wedding” 

Since the alliance between Arya and Jon hadn't worked out, Rhaegar decided that he still wanted an alliance between the houses Targaryen and Stark, so Robb and Princess Daenerys are engaged to be married. The Starks were leaving for King's Landing in a fortnight. All the Lord's of the Northern Houses were going to King's Landing as well. The King was also hosting a tourney in celebration of their union. This was going to be the biggest wedding celebration since Prince Aegon had married Margaery Tyrell two years earlier. 

“Where have you been?” He asked.

“It's a very long story” 

“And I want to hear every part of it” 

Arya took a deep breathe and began to tell her father how she spent these past five years of her life. It began when she purchased a cabin on a boat and travelled to Bravos. _‘Essos? I wasn't expecting that…”_ he thought. She stayed there for about 3 and a half years. She said that she stole enough coin to buy herself a single room to live in. She said that she worked by taking care of the children who lived in her hamlet. She said that she would practice learning how to fight with a sword in her free time. But she said that she didn’t have much free time.   
After she left Bravos, she travelled around Essos. She went and travelled to all of the nine free cities (Braavos, Lorath, Lys, Myr, Norvos, Pentos, Qohor, Tyrosh, and Volantis) but she didn't stay long in any of them aside from Braavos. She went to the Dothraki Sea to see the how the Dothraki fought. After that, she went further East to Yi Ti, Asshai, and the Shadow Lands. Ned was surprised because the majority the Shadow Lands were unknown territory. But she only went to one of the few populated areas of it. 

“It sounds like you've been busy” 

Arya couldn’t help but smile at her father. She was very nervous to see him again. She predicted how her other reunions with her family would go. She figured that her mother would hug her and then yell at her, Robb would be very stern but secretly _extremely_ pleased to see her. She thinks her two youngest brothers would be happy to see her, although she isn’t sure how much Rickon remembers about her. And Sansa, Sansa would scold her, hug her, and never stop asking questions. _‘Did you meet any men?’ ‘Did anyone touch you’ ‘Oh Arya tell me you didn’t let anyone ruin you!’ ‘I’ll help you pick out a dress for your welcome home feast!’_ Arya dreaded that reunion… 

But her Father? Arya was unsure how her Father would react when seeing her again. She didn’t know if he would be furious, curious, distant, or annoyingly cautious. But he just seemed happy to see her again. Arya wanted to cry. She had lied to her father about what she did on her travels for his protection. _‘If he ever found out that I trained with the Faceless Men, he’d probably never look me in the eye again’_

“Did you find all of the answers you seeked?” He asked

Arya hesitated before shaking her head. She was unsure what to say but she knew her father deserved an answer. “My time traveling just made me realise how much I missed home. I got answers to some of my questions, but only some. In certain ways I feel like I know more than before, in other ways I feel more confused than when I started.” 

Ned decided not to push Arya on this topic. It seemed clear to him that she was upset that she didn’t have all of the answers she craved. “How do you get in here? If Jory had known you were here, I would have known,”

“I know every inch of this castle. I know how to get in and out of places without being seen. It was quite easy.” 

“I’m sure that you are tired from your travels. You should get some rest. You can have a proper reunion with everyone in the morning.” 

“I’m not really tired. I stayed in an inn in Winter Town last night.”

“Come, let’s go wake your mother. Everyone else can wait until the morning. Before Ned opened the door he turned around to look at her. He needed to ask this question, but he dreaded the answer that she would give. “If your brother wasn’t getting married, would you have come back?”

Her big grey eyes looked up into his. “I don’t know.” Her voice was so small and fragile. He broke his heart to hear his daughter so broken. 

“Are you going to leave again after the wedding?” 

“I suppose it depends on whether I can get any answers solved before it is over.” 

Ned knew that nothing he could say would change her mind. He only hoped that her questions would be answered before the wedding was over. When Ned opened the door to his solar Jory almost fainted. He hugged Arya and almost didn’t let her go. Arya had a huge smile on her face, and a loud laughed escaped from her lips. It took several minutes for her Arya to follow Ned to see his her mother. Jory promised that he would keep her return a secret until morning.

Ned was unsure what to think of his daughter. She has changed a lot in these past five years. She talked different, walked different, and her composure was different. She carried herself with pride, while her face gave nothing away. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were overflowing with emotions. Ned was under the impression that she knew how to use the sword on her side. Ned tried not to ask a million questions about what she has been doing these past five years. He knew that it would take a long time for her to trust him with the her answers, especially after she lied to him about what she did in Braavos. Ned always knew how to tell when Arya lied to him. He assumed that there must be a reason that she would not tell him the truth, but he was determined to find out what the truth was eventually. 

The reunion Arya had imagined in her head was very similar to what actually happened when she met with her mother. Catelyn screamed and started crying as her arms wrapped around her. Catelyn laughed and smiled and cried. After hugging Arya, for what felt like hours, Catelyn looked her in the eye and started yelling. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR FATHER?!” “THE KING WAS FURIOUS!” “HOW COULD YOU BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE?!” “YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!” “YOU COULD HAVE BEEN MURDERED!” “YOU COULD HAVE BEEN RAPED!” “DID ANY MAN LAY A HAND ON YOU?” “YOU BETTER BEHAVE LIKE A PROPER LADY NOW THAT YOU ARE BACK” “I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I WOULD SEE YOU AGAIN!” And just like that, Catelyn Stark was crying in Arya’s arms. “I missed you Arya!” 

And before she knew it, Arya was crying into her mother’s shoulder, “I missed you too!” 

In the morning Ned had called all of his children to meet him in his solar before they went to break their fast. Catelyn thought it would be a good idea for Arya and her siblings to reunite and then go to the Great Hall together as a united family. Sansa showed up first, Arya tried so hard not to laugh at the face she made. Sansa’s mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide with shock. Sansa ran over to her sister and hugged her. Sansa was only a year older than Arya, but she still towered over her. Arya had grown while she was away, but she was still considered small. Sansa had started asking a thousand questions but before Arya could answer any of them, Robb came in. 

He looked very similar to how he did five years ago. Only his auburn hair was shaggier and his face was clean shaven. He froze in the doorway unsure what to do. But after a minute he ran toward Arya, picked her up and started spinning her in a circle. She couldn’t help but laugh. Robb used to do this to her when she was in a bad mood, whether it was getting in trouble by mother or being called names by Sansa and Jeyne, he was always there to put a smile on her face. 

At that moment Bran and Rickon opened the door and saw Arya. As Robb was putting her down, they ran over and tackled her in a hug. The four of them, Robb didn’t get out of the way fast enough, fell on the floor. 

Rickon was yelling “You’re back! You’re back!”

While Bran kept saying “I can’t believe it! I missed you!”

And Robb moaned and and yelled “Ow! That’s my foot Rickon!” 

Arya was laughing through all of it. She has been imagining seeing her family since she left home five years ago, and now she couldn’t be any happier to be back! 

Once they all were on their feet again, everyone was staring at her. Arya was used to people looking at her ever since she has grown a woman's body, but she would just ignore those people who starred and those tried to convince her to warm their beds at night. But Arya could not ignore her family. She could not walk away, she had to stay. She had to right all of her wrongs. 

“Hi” was all Arya was able to get out. Her voice betrayed her. It sounded weak and shallow. Not strong. Her emotions were messing with her head. 

It was a while before anyone spoke. Arya could feel everyone’s eyes judging her. Waiting to see what her next move would be. Arya was grateful when her father began to speak. 

“Arya arrived in the middle of the night. She was waiting for me in my solar. And she arrived for your wedding Robb. We shall have a feast once all of the northern Lords come to Winterfell. I assume that will be in a week. I will send ravens out to their castles and one to King’s Landing. King Rhaegar would be happy to know that another guest will be there for the wedding.” 

Everyone nodded to what Ned had just said, but then something occurred to Bran. “I’m assuming that you aren’t going to marry Jon, so does that mean that you are going to stay or are you going to leave again?” 

Everyone’s eye turned to face Arya’s except for Catelyn, who started laughing. It took several minutes for her to regain her composure. “Of course Arya isn’t leaving after the wedding. She was gone for five years! She isn’t going anywhere.” Her expression sobered up when she saw that Arya wasn’t nodding alone with what she was saying. “Right?” Catelyn asked, finally looking her in the eye. 

“I don’t know.” Arya said. “ I might stay, but I might have to leave.” 

“What do you mean you might have to leave? You just came back! This is your home! You have been gone for too long, you must stay!” Catelyn screamed as tears started to pour down her eyes. Arya didn’t know what to say. She looked around at the angry faces of her siblings, but her eyes rested on her father's. He looked sad but he understood why she was unsure about the future. 

“Cat,” all eyes turned to his as he spoke softly, “Arya and I spoke last night. It is her decision on whether or not she will stay. If we force her to stay, it won’t help. She needs time.”

“TIME?” She screamed, “FIVE YEARS WAS MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME!!!” Catelyn turned and sat down on a chair on the opposite end of the room and she tried to hold her tears, and keep her emotions to herself.

“Mother,” Arya said as she walked over to the other side of the solar, “I know that I hurt you when I left. I know that I can never fix that, but I need to find answers to my questions. And I’m not finding any answers here. But I’m not going anywhere just yet. And who knows,” She said with a smile, “Maybe in a few moons you will be so sick of me that you will be begging me to leave?”   
Catelyn laughed and hugged her daughter as she choked back a sob.

“I don’t know about any of you, but I am completely famished!” Arya said to her brothers and sister. 

The Starks did exactly as Catelyn wanted. The walked into the Great Hall together, as a united front. Many Lords and Ladies were staying in Winterfell until the North left as one to go to the Capital. Not all of them arrived yet, but many were on their way. All of them were staring at Arya. Arya recognised many faces. Jeyne Poole, Old Nan, Hodor, Maester Luwin, Jory Cassel, and Ser Rodrik. She recognised the Manderlys and the Hornwoods. The Karstarks and the Glovers. She recognised the symbols of House Bolton and House Mormont. No one approached any of the Starks until all of them were seated at the head table. Once there, every man, woman, and child in the hall lined up to greet themselves to Lady Arya. Even though Arya had never met most of the people in the room, they all seemed to know who she was. With one glance at her, they knew she was Arya Stark. The She-Wolf. The Daughter of the North. 

Arya was introduced to everyone and she made sure to remember who they were. While at the House of Black and White, she was taught skills to help her memory. So she made sure to use them for her advantage. By the end, she remembered what House everyone was from, what their name was, and what was their sigil. 

Arya enjoyed talking with her siblings and catching up. Sansa was officially betrothed to Willas Tyrell and they were getting married in a year. She was very good friends with the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Margaery Tyrell, and they send letters to each other all the time. 

Bran is betrothed to Meera Reed, the daughter of Howland Reed. Arya has never met her before but she knows her name. Bran could hardly suppress the smile on his face while he talked of her. Bran was in love and Arya was happy for him. She was happy for her sister as well. It wasn’t very common for people of their rank to fall in love with the people there are told to marry. They were both very lucky. 

When she asked Robb about his betrothal to Daenerys he got excited. He said that originally the two weren’t happy about their upcoming union, but over time they eventually developed feelings for one another. Robb couldn’t help but gush over Daenerys hair or her eyes or her accent or fingers. Basically he will talk about anything involving Daenerys for as long as you would listen. Arya almost changed the topic before finding out that Daenerys and her brother Viserys spent time traveling in Essos. They spent a year together in Pentos, but then Viserys had fallen ill and died while he was away. Daenerys then spent a another year there while she grieved over the loss of her brother. Arya will have to ask her about her travels when they see each other in the capital. 

When she talked to Rickon she was reminded of herself. She asked him one question and he then did all the talking. He seemed so excited to talk to the sister he hardly remembered. He was six when she left and didn’t understand what was happening most of the time. But he told her that he remembered that she was wild. That her and her direwolf could not be tamed. He remembered that she always liked to play with swords and bow and arrows. He thought it was exciting how she wanted to break the rules. Arya liked her younger brother and was excited to find out more about him. He told her that he wanted to become a Knight. He dreamed of charging into battle with a great long sword and men who he trusted to follow him into battle. He may only be a boy of eleven, but he was ambitious. 

Throughout the day Arya was introduced to various different people. She met Roose Bolton who always wore a serious face. Something told her that she should not entirely trust this man. He then introduced her to his bastard son Ramsay. He seemed very polite, but he also seemed slightly overconfident. He wore a prize winning smile that surely would make ladies from all over fall at his feet. He must be used to that sort of attention because when Arya didn’t start to giggle and smile at everything he said, his smile would then start to waver. He was extremely attractive but Arya was not a lady who would fall in love with someone for their appearance. That was something Sansa would do. But not Arya. 

Arya was introduced to several Lords who would then introduce her to their sons. Clearly they thought her a fool who would fall in love with one of their heirs and then their house would rise higher in power. It happened with the Boltons, the Karstarks, and several more houses. Lord Glover introduce her to his grandson who was only ten years old. Lord Manderly introduced her to his two sons who were older than her father. 

Later that evening Ned had told her that almost a dozen Lords had asked him to give her hand in marriage to one of their sons. Arya laughed and called them all idiots. 

One week later all of the Lords and Ladies who were expected at Winterfell had arrived and a feast was being held in her honor. Arya tried to convince her mother to let her wear breeches, but Catelyn told her no. Arya spent the day in Sansa’s room. There wasn’t enough time for a dress to be made for Arya, so Sansa had to alter one of her own to fit her. Sansa told her to pick any dress out from her closet and they will alter that one. Arya picked the most basic thing in the closet: a grey wool dress. Sansa said no. Arya then picked a dark blue dress. Sansa said no. Arya picked the plainest, more boring dresses that were in Sansa’s closet and Sansa said ‘no’ to all of them. 

“If there is a dress you want me to wear, then just pick it!” Arya yelled at her sister who seemed to smile at the words she said. 

Sansa reached into her closet and the dress she pulled out was deep green with a dangerously low neckline

“No.” Arya said to Sansa.

“Arya why not? You’d look gorgeous in it!” 

“No I wouldn’t! I look terrible in every dress i’ve ever worn. I am not you! I am Arya Horseface, not a pretty lady who dresses up and does her hair!” Arya didn’t want to argue with her sister, but Arya would not look ‘gorgeous’ in that dress. Her whole childhood she was told that she was ugly and that she would never grow up to be beautiful. No dress could ever make someone think she was ‘gorgeous’. 

Sansa looked into Arya’s eyes as she spoke. “Arya I’m sorry for calling you Arya Horseface when we were younger. You are absolutely beautiful now. This past week, every single man in Winterfell has had their eyes on you. Not me. Not any other ladies from prominent house. Just you.”

After _a lot_ of convincing, Arya agreed to try on the dress. The neckline wasn’t as low as she thought, and her round breast fit the gown perfectly. Sansa had to take in some of the fabric around her waist. When it was done Arya could not believe that she was looking at herself. The fabric stuck to her skin and it brought out the curves in her side. The neckline was low but not plunging. When she looked in the mirror, she actually thought that she had the potential to look beautiful. Sansa brushed Arya’s hair until it was no longer matted. The majority of it was laid at her shoulders, but Sansa took two sections on each side of her head and braided it. She wrapped them and tied them on the back of her head. Sansa placed some of the body oils Willas had sent her on Arya’s skin. When Sansa finished Arya looked at herself in the mirror once again. _‘I don’t look beautiful, I look deadly.’_ She thought, and she couldn’t help but embrace the huge grin that formed on her lips. 

Sansa and her walked hand in hand to the Great Hall. They were going to be announced together. Arya couldn’t help but admire Sansa’s beauty. She was always beautiful, but as children her beauty was trivial compared to what it is now. Her auburn hair shined, her chest was very full, and her body was extremely fit. Sansa wore a long deep blue dress that attached itself to her figure. Her arms were covered by blue lace that flowed by her hands, and her shining auburn hair was braided all around her head with not a strand out of place. The two sisters together looked unforgiving. They looked remorseless. They looked merciless. They were the Children of Winter, and no one could get in their way. 

After they were announced, both of them walked in without looking at anyone. They stared straight ahead and took their seats. Arya felt all eyes on them, and she liked it. After the music started and the food was served, the feast became much more enjoyable. Later Arya found herself sitting at a table with several men who were interested in her hand in marriage. Arya found it hilarious how they were all trying to impress her. She was drinking several horns of ale and singing songs with all of them. Most of the men were extremely surprised that she could hold her liquor. “I’ve had a lot of practice.” was all Arya got to say before Robb grabbed her arm and pulled her to the other end of the room. 

“What are you doing?” he asked her looking angry. “You are a lady you can’t be getting drunk in front of them”

“I’m not drunk Robb. And I’m not a lady.”

“You are a Lady. Whether you want to be or not, you are one. You may not be as drunk as those men, but they are trying to prove their worth to you. Eventually a fight is going to break out and someone might end up dead.”

“I’m not going to let anyone die fighting over me. And besides,” she said as she took another swig of ale, “I already told them that I will not marry any of them, so their is no point trying to get me to fall for them.” 

“You are impossible.” Robb said. But even he could not contain his smile. “When Mother catches you, at least tell her I tried to stop you.”

“Of course big brother.” And with that she turned around and went right back to the table full of men and started to sing ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair’ 

Later that evening Arya saw Roose Bolton and Ramsay Snow in a corner. She noticed during the night that neither of them had been drinking. Arya had asked Ramsay earlier why he hadn’t but all he said was that it messed up his senses. The two seemed to be in an argument. Ramsay wasn’t speaking but his father was quietly yelling at him. Arya wanted to go and interrupt their argument but she had a feeling that it would be bad if she did. So she snuck around the outskirts of the room and was in a place where she could hear what they were saying, but they couldn’t see her. 

“-That won’t work!” Arya recognised Rooses voice, “if you take her maidenhead, than Lord Stark will be furious. He won’t let you wed her then.” 

Arya froze. They were talking about ways to get her to marry Ramsay. 

“I suppose you could do it without her knowledge.”

“What do you mean father?” Ramsay asked.

“At tomorrow's feast, you can give her a potion to make her sleep through the night. Then after she is unconscious, you will take her maidenhead. The next morning her maids will see the blood on her sheets and she will be ruined. No one will want her then. And after the initial shock, I will suggest that my bastard son wed her! Ned Stark will have no choice but to say yes.”

“Father I don’t know how comfortable I am with this plan-”

“-You _are_ comfortable with this plan! You will drug her and bed her, or I will find someone else who will!” Arya could tell that Roose was clenching his teeth trying not to be too loud or to create a scene. But Arya was furious so she decided to make her presence known. 

“That is a wonderful plan Lord Bolton” Arya said in a high pitched voice with a fake smile, “But the problem is,” she said in between batting her eyelashes, “I’m not a maiden.” And with that she turned around and walked back towards her chambers. 

Arya wanted to skewer Roose Bolton with Needle, but she knew that if that happened fighting would break out. But she decided that she was going to keep a close eye on the Boltons from now on. She had a suspicion that they were hiding something, and she was going to find out what it was. 

* * * 

_King Rhaegar,  
I am happy to announce that my daughter Arya Stark has returned home to Winterfell. She will be traveling with us to King’s Landing to attend the wedding of Robb and Daenerys. We will be leaving in a fortnight, and arrive one moon after.   
Hope all is well in the Capital,   
Eddard Stark  
Lord of Winterfell   
Warden of the North _

Rhaegar had read the letter that Ned had sent him over and over until he had memorized every word. Part of him had assumed that Arya Stark was dead. He knew that Jon would want to hear this news right away, but something stopped him. _‘Jon was so broken when he found out she was gone. He only just started behaving like himself again.’_ Rhaegar knew that Jon would have to find out about Arya Stark’s return eventually, but he is going to tell him when the Stark party is seen on the Kings Road. _‘I don't want him to obsess about her return for the next moon. He’ll find out about her return the day of her arrival.’_

* * *

Arya was always the best rider in Winterfell. Since she visited the Dothraki, she got even better. She saddled up her horse and went to the front of the line next to Robb, Bran, and Rickon. Her mother was trying to convince her to ride in the Wagon with her, Sansa, and other northern ladies. When Arya refused, Catelyn made her promise that she would ride side-saddle. Arya agreed and once she was out of sight of her mother, she went to the stables and switched it out for a normal riding saddle. 

Arya was wearing a pair of her breeches and a leather tunic. Her hair was pulled back and her eyes were looking back and forth between the King’s road and Winterfell. She was leaving her home once again. She wanted to go home for years, but the Faceless Men would not let her leave. When she did leave, she did not want them to look for her in Winterfell. She didn’t want her family put in danger. So she travelled around Essos, leaving a trail of death and whispers of a girl who could change her face. Once she felt that it was safe enough for her to come home, she booked passage on a ship and returned to Westeros. She found out that Robb was engaged to Daenerys her first night back on Westeros, so she bought a horse and rode it fast as possible to the North. 

Now looking back at the castle’s walls that surround Winterfell, she can’t believe that she is leaving again. But she knows that even though she is leaving Winterfell, she isn’t leaving her family. Well… at least not yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The North arrives in the South, and gifts are exchanged

“What!” Jon yelled as his families invasive eyes stared into him, curious to see his reaction. “How long have you known?”

“A little more than a month.” Rhaegar told him.

“How could you not have told me? How could you not have told me that she is alive? How could you not tell me that she came home? I’ve have been worried about her for five years!” Jon couldn’t contain his anger. He stormed out of the throne room and wanted to be alone. But just as he turned a corner, Aegon’s arm reached out and grabbed him, preventing him from avoiding this conversation. 

“You have finally been acting like yourself again Jon. After she left, you were never the same. You acted out, you always wanted to be alone, you were always sulking in a corner somewhere. But then after years went by, you started acting like yourself again. Father was so pleased, he didn’t want to ruin that by telling you. He didn’t want you to revert back into the state you were before. So he did not tell you that Arya was coming back, because he was worried about how it would affect you.”

Jon opened his mouth in interject, but Aegon kept talking. “I argued with him over this, I did!,” He said as he stared into his brothers cold grey eyes, “But father felt that this would be the best option for you. Now I need you to listen to me,” His arms grabbed Jon’s shoulders forcing him to stay where he is. Forcing him to listen to his every word. “Neither of us knew how you would react. We were unsure if you would be angry, joyful, or upset. We weren’t sure how you would act in front of Arya, how you react in front of the Stark family, or how you would react in front of the rest of Lords and Ladies visiting the court. We were hoping that your first emotion would be joy, so you would be pleasant in front of everyone.” Jon tried to break free of his grip, but Aegon wouldn’t let him. “I need you to listen to me little brother. I need you to put on a show for court. If you are angry and want to scream, than do it. But do not do in front of other people’s eyes! Now, they are going to be here soon, so I need you to put on a smile and welcome your cousin back.” 

Jon just stared at his brother. He knew that Aegon was speaking the truth. But he was still angry with his family for not telling him. “So how long have _you_ known?” he asked.

“I found out around a week after father got the letter from Lord Eddard. Your sister and your aunt found out then as well, so if you want to yell at anyone else, do not waste all that energy on me, go scream at your other family members. You’ll feel better.” Aegon said with a cheeky smirk. 

Less than an hour later the Starks and all of the other northern Lord's arrived. Jon was standing next to his father who sat on the Iron Throne. 

The doors to the Throne Room slowly began to open. Jon’s heart was pounding in his chest. _‘I'm going to see her again! I'm going to see her again!’_ He put on a large smile as the Northern party began to walk in. 

* * *

“Ugh! Five years and this city still stinks like shit!” Robb couldn't help but laugh as his sister wrinkled her nose and tried to block out the smell of King's Landing. 

“Remember to watch your language when in the presence of the King… and mother.” 

Arya looked up at the Red Keep and it made her stomach tighten. She always hated feeling nervous. She was nervous when she entered the House of Black and White. She was nervous when the faceless men were hunting her. She was nervous when she was reunited with her Father. And she is currently nervous standing in front of the Red Keep, terrified to see the furious faces of the people she let down. She knew that the King was angry since she broke off her betrothal to Jon, and she the thought of facing him again was nerve racking. But she was also excited. The thought of seeing Jon again made her smile. Being completely honest with herself, the thought of Jon is what saved her when she was in Braavos. If he had never gifted her with Needle, then she would have been long dead by now. She wondered if his hair was still wild and unkempt. She wondered if it was still long or if he finally cut it short. 

She also began to think about the other people who she hasn’t seen in five years. She wondered if Aegon was still more interested in acting than he was in politics. She wondered if he still had his sense of humor. She wondered if Rhaenys finally admitted her feeling for Sandor Clegane. The last time Arya was in the capital, six years ago, she overheard a conversation between Rhaenys and The Hound. The Hound kept telling Rhaenys that they couldn’t be together, and Rhaenys punched him in the face. Arya always like Rhaenys. She knew how to defend herself. She never acted like a damsel in distress, she was strong, brave, and never acted like a weak Lady to get a man’s affection. Arya will have a lot to talk to her about. She also wondered about Daenerys. She knew things about her from what Robb had said. But Arya wanted to ask Daenerys about her travels to Essos. She was curious to see if everyone looked the same as they had five years earlier. She assumed that everyone would look older, but she was curious to see how much older they looked. 

“It will be fine little sister.” Robb was surprised to see a crack in her normally stoic expression. “Daenerys sent me a raven, she said that she is very excited to see you again. She would like to have you for tea. And she is interested in finding out about your travels, she already has a list of questions to ask you.” 

“I have my own list of questions to ask her about her travels in Pentos.” Robb stopped his horse in front of her, not permitting her to pass him. 

“Promise me that you won’t say something that will upset her in regards to her brother. The two were always very close, and she is still very upset about his passing.”

“I promise.” 

“Thank you. Now hurry up little sister! We are almost there and we should be in the front next to father.” 

Arya thought that the city looked very similar to how it did five years ago. Many people were gathered around, watching the large party of Northerners travel through the streets of the King’s Landing. The city was disgusting, it was covered in filth. Arya couldn’t wait until she got a chance to sneak out of the castle and explore. 

By the time they reached to outskirts of the Red Keep, their were several people there who were ready to direct all of the Northern Lords and Ladies to the Throne Room. Arya walked behind her brothers as they walked through the Red Keep. The inside of the castle was much cleaner than it was on the outside. As they reached the Throne room, Arya froze. She couldn’t move her legs, she tried but she couldn’t. Bran turned around and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. They waited as the doors to Throne Room slowly began to open. Once they were completely open Ned Stark began to walk through the doors, and the rest of the North followed his footsteps. 

Once everyone was in the Throne Room, all of the Northerners bent down on one knee. Several people were saying “Your Grace” to Lord Rhaegar. When Arya looked up at the King, she was not surprised to find that his eyes were on hers. His expression was hard to read. Arya could detect several different emotions on his face that appeared and disappeared in a matter of seconds. _Joy. Anger. Surprise. Disgust. Anticipation. Worry. Lust._ The last one made Arya very worried. 

“Your Grace” Ned said, causing King Rhaegar to look at the Warden of the North instead of Arya. 

“Lord Eddard, Welcome back to the Capital. I hope that your Journey went well.” 

“Thank you Your Grace. Our travels went very well. It appears that when you travel with the whole North, thieves and bandits are too afraid to attack.” 

King Rhaegar laughed and his mouth turned into a grin. “Well it appears that the thieves and bandits who plague the Seven Kingdoms at least have some sense.” 

King Rhaegar looked out to address the crowd of Northern Lords and Ladies who still remained kneeling with their heads down. “I would like to welcome all of the Lords and Ladies who arrived today to attend to the wedding of my sister Daenerys Targaryen and Robb Stark. The union between houses Targaryen and Stark is far overdue. This alliance will mold the future of the Seven Kingdoms and will be part of a dynasty that shall last over a thousand generations.” Everyone kneeling began to stand, and waited for what King Rhaegar would say next.   
He then began to address certain households, but Jon was not listening to his father’s words. Jon was searching for her. He looked over the faces of hundreds of people and could not find her. 

He looked over towards the faces of the Stark family. He saw Lord and Lady Stark, he recognized Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rickon. He looked at the people all around them and couldn’t find her. He looked for a short brunette. He found several of them, but none of them looked like Arya. One had long curly hair with large breasts and large curves. Another had short hair, small breasts, and no curves. Their was another who had wavy, shoulder length hair and subtle curves. Jon looked at dozens of brunettes and did not recognize Arya. He began to lose hope, but then he heard his father say, “Arya Stark, welcome back to the Capital. I must say, you are your Aunt Lyanna reborn.”

The woman with wavy, shoulder length hair walked forward and Jon did not understand why. _‘That’s not Arya Stark’_ he thought, _‘It can’t be.’_ Looking closer at this woman's appearance, he noticed that her hair wasn’t really wavy. Most of it was straight, but the ends began to curl. The curves in her figure were subtle, but they were definitely there. Jon thinks that they would be much more noticeable if she were wearing a gown. _‘It’s not her’_ he thinks again, but then he sees the sword that hangs at her side. He would recognize it anywhere. _Needle._ He looked up at her face once more, but now he could see her. She looked older. Her skin was fair, which contrasted with her dark hair. _‘She looks like a true Northern Beauty’_ he thinks. 

“Thank you King Rhaegar. Coming from you that is a high praise.” She said looking him right in the eye. Not many people are brave enough to look their King in the eye, but Arya Stark was. She was not going to cover in fear because this man wears a crown. 

_‘Her accent sounds different. It sounds foreign’_ Jon thinks. He looked over at Aegon whose eyes were extremely wide. _‘He must have not recognized her as well’_ he thought. 

“It has been a very long time My Lady,” The King said, “We must discuss your travels during your visit.”

“Of course Your Grace.” She said while sporting a fake smile. Arya was going to try to avoid that conversation as much as she can. “But before that conversation occurs, I do have some apologies I must give first.” She turned away from The King and faced Aegon and Margaery Tyrell. “My Prince, My Princess, I am extremely sorry that I was not able to attend your wedding. By the time I had heard of your betrothal, you were already married.” She could hear a few muffled laughs come from the people behind her. “It appears that word travels extremely slow in Essos.” 

_‘She was in Essos?’_ Jon thinks, _‘That must be why her accent sounds foreign.’_

Arya turned away from Aegon and his wife, and faced Daenerys. “Princess Daenerys, I heard of your brothers passing a little over a month ago. I am so sorry for your loss.” The Throne Room became extremely silent. The death of Prince Viserys was not something that was mentioned often. No one wanted to upset princess Daenerys by mentioning him. Everyone’s eyes were glued on the two of them, waiting to see how Daenerys would react. “But if you think of the common saying by the Ironborn, ‘What is dead may never die’ then you shall know that your brother will never be truly gone. He will always live on in your heart, and the hearts of others.” She looked over at her brother Robb who was looking back and forth between his sister and his betrothed. 

The room was silent for a few more moments before Daenerys spoke. “Thank very much Lady Arya for your kind words. My brother will always stay with me” Arya studied her face. Daenerys looked sad, sad enough for everyone in this room to feel bad for her, except Arya. Arya spent a long time studying people, and Daenerys facial expression was anything but genuine. She wasn’t sure why Daenerys was putting on a show, but Arya decided that she was going to find out why. 

After it was clear that Daenerys would speak no more, Arya continued. “In honour of my brothers wedding, I have brought gifts.” Three men walked to front of the room carrying a large crate. After they set it down, they turned waiting for Arya to continue. “One of the places that I travelled to was the Shadowlands beyond Asshi. While I was there, I found these,” she gestured towards the crate, “I paid a hard price for them, but I hope that you like them as much as the man who I received them from had.”

The three men opened the crate and inside were three large rocks. The royal family's eyes went wide, right away they knew what the rocks were. Many people turned their head trying to see what was in the box. “The ages have unfortunately turned them to stone, but they will always be beautiful.” 

Some people began to whisper in the background. Some had figured out what the gift was, others had not. “The first one, I would like to gift to my future good-sister.” One man lifted up the dark red egg and began to walk towards the Princess. Everyone was frozen. Now everybody in the Throne Room knew what Arya was gifting the royal family. Daenerys looked between the petrified egg and Arya. She had no words. She opened her mouth a few times but nothing came out. 

“My Crown Prince, I gift this to you. Consider it an extremely late wedding present.” One of the men lifted a green egg and handed to the Crown Prince. His eyes filled with pride, he looked towards Arya and nodded his head. He didn’t speak any words, but the message was said. 

Arya then turned her head and looked toward her cousin. He looked older. His hair was longer and still curly. “Years ago you gave me the most thoughtful gift anyone could have ever given me.” All eyes were on her and Jon. “That gift,” she held her hands on the hilt of her sword, “saved my life on so many different occasions. In some ways, that gift is my humanity, in some ways it is my soul. I know that a sword and a petrified Dragon Egg are very different things, but I hope this gift lets you know how much I appreciate all that you have done for me.” The last man picked up the last egg, which was cream colored, and walked towards Jon and set it in his hands. 

Jon looked down in his hands and felt the rough sides of the egg. When he looked up he looked into Arya’s grey eyes. He doesn’t know how he didn’t recognize her before. She may look older, but her dark grey eyes were the same. “Thank you.” He said in a gruff, but soft voice. 

“You’re welcome My Prince.” Arya then bowed to the royal family, turned around, and walked to stand next to her father. _‘That wasn’t so bad’_ She thought. _‘I can survive the Capital, no matter what it throws at me!’_

Little did she know that the Capital was going to send her curve balls left and right.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa and Arya get ready for a feast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all grammar mistakes!

Once the King was done with his greetings, everyone shuffled out of the Throne Room. Jon started running, trying to catch Arya. But he was too late, all of the Stark’s were being shown to there rooms. 

“I was not expecting her to look like that.” Aegon said standing next to him. 

“Why should you care what she looks like? You are married after all.” Jon retorted. 

“You are right little brother. My thoughts on her appearance don’t matter. But yours do. How do you feel about scrawny little Arya Underfoot turning into a woman?” Jn could see the smirk forming on Aegon’s face.

“I feel nothing.”

“Nothing? It didn’t look like ‘nothing’ when you were gawking at her in there.” He said pointing at the Throne Room. 

“I just couldn’t believe that I was seeing her again.” 

“Sure. You keep telling yourself that.” Before Jon could respond to his older brother, Margaery Tyrell walked over and put her hand on her husband’s arm. 

“Darling are you alright? You ran out of the Throne Room so fast I was worried something had happened?” Margaery said while looking worried. 

“I’m alright love. I just wanted to see how Jon was doing.” Jon glared at Aegon before walking away. 

“She was very beautiful.” Margaery said as she watched Jon turn down a random corridor. 

“Yes she was. How long do you think it will take for her and Jon to get together?” 

“One moon at the longest.” She said without hesitation. 

“Only one?”

“Well how long do you think?”

“They are both _extremely_ stubborn. I give them two or three moons.”

“Well I guess we’ll just have to watch and see.” 

* * *

When Arya walked into her room, she was surprised to see that it was so grand. She figured that King Rhaegar would have given her a room in the dungeon or someplace like that. But this room was the opposite of the dungeons. The walls were covered in tapestries, several were depicting battles and others depicted flowers. Arya thought that it was a strange combination but the tapestries, oddly enough, complemented each other. There was a large featherbed in the center of the room. There were two small tables, two fancy chairs, one desk and a balcony. From the balcony you could see most of King's Landing including the harbour. But Arya didn’t really care where her room was or what it looked like. She has learnt over the years that comfort is not the most important thing in life. Survival, and knowing who your enemies are, is more important than whether or not you sleep on a featherbed. 

Arya heard a knock on the door and three servants came in and began to draw Arya a bath. As they were setting it up, Sansa walked into Arya’s room.

“Did you see how Prince Jon was looking at you?” Sansa wore a big grin as she sat on Arya’s bed. 

“He wasn’t looking at _me_ , he was looking at the dragon eggs. And I can’t blame him, they are remarkable.”

“I didn’t even know that brought dragon eggs, let alone that you _had_ dragon eggs.” Sansa stared at her sister with prying eyes, pleading for information. 

“Before we left Winterfell, I told three guards to guard the crate with their life. When we came to King’s landing, I showed them what was inside it. Aside from them, I told no one. Father didn’t even know.” 

“You told the King that you paid a hard price for them. What was the price?” 

Arya didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to tell her sister that she had to kill the man in a fight in order to get the eggs. Of course she didn’t intend on killing the man, but when he told Arya that his price was him getting to do whatever he liked to her body, she had to decline. So Arya turned around and was going to leave, but the man did not like that. He grabbed Arya and tried to slice her with his small rusty dagger. The man was dead within a few seconds, but he did manage to cut her leg. The cut wasn’t deep, but it definitely slowed her down. 

“Time.”

Sansa cocked her head to the side. “What?”   
“The price I paid was time. I made a careless mistake when I was procuring the eggs, and it slowed me down. If I had just been careful, then I would have been back on Westeros a few weeks earlier.” 

“Well it looks like your bath is ready sister. I will go back to my room to take one myself.” Sansa said as she began to walk towards the door. “In a hour, come to my room. I would like us to get ready for the feast together.” And with that, Sansa was gone. 

Arya dismissed the servants and began to peel off her clothes from her sweaty body. Her entire body was covered in dirt. She was also covered in scrapes and bruises. When Arya sat in her bath, the hot water instantly began soothing her sore muscles. She hasn’t had a proper bath since she left Winterfell. And the time before that, she can’t even remember. When Arya was traveling around Essos she forgot what it felt like to be properly clean. She forgot what it felt like to not have dirt all over her skin. If she saw a river or stream she would go in it and wash up, but it had never fully done the job. 

Once she was all clean, Arya got out of her tub and put on a clean pair of breeches and a light tunic. She began to walk to Sansa’s room but got lost on the way. 

“Where are you running off to?” Arya turned around to see Bran walking towards her. Arya was happy to see her brother again. They spent a lot of time together in Winterfell and on the King’s road. But once the Northern party had reached Greywater Watch, she did not see him as much. Bran spent most of his time with his betrothed Meera Reed and her brother Jojen, and the remainder of his time with Arya and his other siblings. 

“Nowhere. I am trying to find Sansa’s room, but I don’t actually know where it is.”

“Is she going to help get you ready for the feast?” 

“Unfortunately. Mother packed several gowns and dresses for me. But she didn’t trust me with any of them, so she gave them to Sansa for ‘safe keeping’.”

Bran laughed as Arya tried to do an impression of their mother. She pursed her lips together, squinted her eyes, straightened her postures and put her hands on her hips. 

Both of them froze when they heard someone clear their throat behind them. “Can I help you with something?” They turned to find Catelyn Stark staring down at them with her hands on her hips, eyes squinted, and lips pursed. 

“I got lost on the way to Sansa’s chambers. Bran found me and offered to escort me there.” 

“Well you better hurry, the feast begins soon and you must be ready on time. I will not allow you to be late.” And with that Catelyn Stark turned around and walked away. 

“So do you have any idea where Sansa’s chambers are?” She asked Bran.

“Not a clue.”

“Well then it appears we are going to have an adventure.” 

* * *

Twenty minutes later Arya and Bran finally found Sansa’s room. When Sansa opened her door, Arya saw that she was already in her dress. 

“Where have you been?” Sansa yelled. 

“Well I’ll just leave you two then.” Bran said as he walked away as quickly as he could. 

Arya closed the chamber door and turned to find an angry Sansa standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed. 

“Sorry I’m late.” Arya said as she sat down. “I didn’t know where your chamber was. Bran was helping me try to find it.”

Sansa released a huge sigh. “Well we have to hurry. We lost a lot of time.”

“Sansa, the feast doesn’t start for another two hours.”

“And we will need every minute to make sure that you look your best.”

Sansa retrieved a dress from her things and held it up to show Arya. Arya’s mouth dropped open when she saw it. This dress was scandalous. Sansa couldn’t help but contain her smile. 

“Mother doesn’t know about this one. I made it for you special.” Arya wasn’t usually the type of person who was interested in dresses, but this dress was so alluring she couldn’t look away.   
Sansa helped Arya put it on, and Arya just stood admiring it in the mirror. The strings for the corset were in the front of the dress, so they could be seen. The dress was made of dark blue and black fabric. As the fabric reached her waist, it began to split into several pieces. The fabric was sheer and was flowy. The dress had no sleeves, so it left her arms bare. The dress covered her breasts, but it left the tops of them out in the open. The corset helped raise her breasts so they looked bigger than they were. The top half of the dress clung to her figure, and it accented   
her curves. 

“Sansa this is…” 

“I thought that you wouldn’t want something traditional. Do you like it?” Sansa asked staring at her own feet.

“Are you kidding? I love it!” 

“Really? I was extremely nervous to show it to you. I know that no one at court would ever be wearing this outfit and I thought that you like to be different.”

“Sansa this is the most beautiful thing I have ever worn. It is inappropriate, but not too inappropriate.” Arya wanted to do some investigating on some of the Northern Lords to make sure that they were loyal to House Stark. And when Arya was in Braavos, she spent some time being trained by the courtesans who worked there. The most important lesson she learned from them was that a woman's best weapon was between her legs. Arya has never laid with a man, despite what she told Roose Bolton, and she doesn’t intend to do that. But she knows what men like, and she will do whatever she needs to do in order to find out who is loyal to her family and who isn’t. 

“Sansa, why do you want me to wear this dress? You must know that you will get in a lot of trouble from Mother and Father because of it.” 

“Because you are my pack. And I want my pack to stay together.” Arya scrunched her eyebrows together and looked confused. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I want you to stay with us Arya! I don’t want you to leave again! I think that you will leave if you are unhappy. So if breeches will make you happy, than I want you to wear them. I was thinking that if Mother sees you in this dress than maybe she will allow you to wear breeches instead of dresses from now on.”

“Sansa I do believe that is the kindest thing you have ever said to me.” When Arya gave her sister a large hug, she didn’t want to let go. For the first time in her life, she was actually getting along with her sister. Yes they still argued, but it was not like it used to be. Arya actually enjoyed spending time with Sansa. That is something that she never imagined would happen. 

When they stopped embracing, Sansa began to do Arya’s hair. She took a few strands of hair on each side of her face and left them there while she grabbed the rest of Arya’s hair. She took her hair and tied it on the top of her head. The bottom of her hair began to curl. 

Arya looked alluring. Sansa imagined that everyone would have their eyes glued to her sister. Arya Stark was no longer Arya Horseface, she was officially Arya Stark: The Daughter of Winter.

“Are you ready?” Sansa asked Arya. 

Arya hesitated. She was physically ready, but emotionally she wasn’t. “Sansa, I’m nervous. What if Jon hates me?” 

“Jon does not hate you! You should have seen how he was looking at you earlier. He was in awe of you. Of your bravery, of your strength, and of your thoughtfulness.” Arya still didn’t move from where she was standing. Sansa walked over to her sister and grabbed her hands. “You are going to be fine. Now come on, let’s go. We are already late, and mother will be furious.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Arya’s dress I combined two different dresses that I saw on online. These are them  
> Arya’s dress: https://www.pyramidcollection.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1=PD6172+BK+M&srccode=NXCPC6&utm_source=google&utm_medium=comparison&utm_campaign=datafeed&source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1JbPBRCrARIsAOKj2PnGK25IrxGF6d6MBeGOQIrgo45lVsbdfxBjsUV_NMHCwg3wwc_JwjYaApltEALw_wcB   
> Arya’s other dress: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/534521049495942150/   
> Arya’s hair: A ponytail, I just wasn’t sure how to describe it


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all of my grammar mistakes!

Arya and Sansa were running late. Once they arrived, most of the guests were already inside. 

Arya looked at Sansa who was wearing a dark red low cut dress, and had small sections of her hair braided while the rest of it was untouched. Arya thought that Sansa looked beautiful, much more beautiful than she did. Sansa held Arya’s hand as they walked into the hall. Immediately all eyes fell on them. Arya heard some people gasp, while others had whistled. Arya couldn’t help but smile as she reached her seat. 

“Little sister I think that we made quite the entrance” Sansa said with a smirk. 

Once everything was settled, people began to introduce themselves to Arya. She had met Lords who couldn’t keep their eyes off of her chest, and she met Ladies who wouldn’t look her in the eye. When Arya looked around the room, she noticed King Rhaegar staring at her. Again he had so many emotions that displayed on his face. _Joy. Anger. Surprise. Worry. Lust._

Arya felt very unnerved from his glare. But suddenly her mother started speaking to her, causing her look away from the King. 

“What in Seven Hells are you wearing?” Catelyn demanded in a whispered voice. Arya looked over at Sansa who seemed too terrified to speak.

“What's wrong mother? I'm wearing a dress. If you don't like it, I can change into a pair of breeches.” Arya wore an innocent facial expression. 

Catelyn was angry, you could tell by looking at her face. “You are dressed like a Back Alley Sally!” 

“A lot of time was spent into making this dress. I think it looks nice.” 

“You should not be wearing that. I don't know where you got that, but now I am going to have have someone pick out your outfits from now on. Now you are either going to stay seated this entire feast so I can keep an eye on you, or you are going to go and change into an _elegant_ dress! Which do you choose?” 

Arya looked at her sister. Sansa was upset that her scheme did not go to plan. 

“I suppose I will stay within sight of you Mother.” Catelyn angrily stalked back to her seat on the other end of the table and began to stare at her daughter. 

“Why didn't you tell her I made it?” Sansa asked.

“Because I saw your face. Even though you try to deny it, you are terrified of the thought of getting in trouble by Mother. The two of you always had a good relationship, I don't want to ruin that.” 

Sansa reached over and grabbed Arya’s hand. “I know that many people will ask you to be there will their first dance, but will you be mine?”

“Of course.” 

Throughout the meal, several Lords approached Arya and started a conversation with her. All of them asked her for her first dance, and she said no to all of them. Arya was disappointed that Jon never tried to speak to her. He and Aegon stayed on the opposite end of the hall, and neither of them looked her way. Arya began to wonder if she insulted them with her outfit, or if they were expecting her to go over to them to start a conversation. 

Before the music began to play, many people stood up with their partners and walked to the center of the room. Sansa grabbed Arya by the arm and the two of them ran together like children. The song started out slowly, but gradually got faster and more upbeat. Arya and Sansa were spinning, jumping, and laughing. Neither of them realised that by the end of the song they were the only two dancing, and everyone was watching the two of them. The hall erupted in claps and cheers. Arya felt uncomfortable with all of the attention, but Sansa loved it. Arya spent years learning how to hide in the shadows and Sansa has spent years waiting for her standing ovation. 

Arya tried to walk back to her seat, but Robb blocked her path and requested the next dance. Many other people had joined in and Arya was not the only one dancing this time. This song was slow but lively.

“What you said to Daenerys was very kind.” He told her.

“Well I knew that I had to say something. I didn’t think that it would be right if I had just ignored the fact that her brother died and not acknowledge him.” 

“Well Daenerys told me that what you said meant a lot to her. She also appreciates her early wedding gift. Which reminds me, how did you get them?” 

“I bought them.” 

“With what money? Arya I know that you didn’t have enough money to purchase Dragon eggs. And even if you did, you would not waste it on Dragon’s eggs, so that means that you got it some other way. I want to know what you did.” 

Arya didn’t respond. The two siblings continued dancing, never breaking eye contact. When the song ended, Robb did not let go of his hold on his sister. Arya knew that he wouldn’t leave without her answer, But she had no interest in telling him what actually happened. 

“Can I step it?” Their Father had asked. 

“Yes! Thanks for the dance Robb!” Arya took her father's hand and they began to dance.

“So what was that all about?” Ned asked. “I saw the determined look in both of you faces. Were you were having a disagreement?”

“Robb asked me a question, I answered him… but he didn't believe my answer”

Ned pondered over what she said. It was silent between them for a few minutes before he changed the topic. “So I must ask, why are you wearing that dress? Your mother is furious.”

“It was Sansa’s idea.” Arya muttered

Ned laughed as he looked at his daughter. “Please promise me that you will wear a much more appropriate dress next time. For your father’s sake.” 

Arya wanted to laugh at the uncomfortable expression on her father’s face. “Of course father. Besides, I don’t like receiving so much attention. I’d much prefer to be the silent person in the corner, watching from a distance.”

When the song ended, Arya saw that Robb was making his way back over towards her. But luckily, Bran got there first. Arya and Bran danced for several songs together, talking and laughing. Eventually Bran went to ask Meera for a dance. After that, Arya danced with Rickon. He was not the best dance partner, but he was great company. He told her about all of the smelly, old Lords and Ladies that he was introduced to. After a few more songs finished, Rickon went back to the table to eat more food. Arya was returning to her seat as well when she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her. 

“Well it certainly has been a long time Underfoot. How about a dance?” Arya turned around to find Aegon smirking down at her. His outfit was black with dark red accents. His silver hair reached slightly past his broad shoulders, and his eyes were bright purple. 

Arya took his arm as he guided her to the floor. Neither of them spoke a word. After the song ended, Aegon did not let go of her. When the next song began, the two continued to dance. Again, no one spoke during the song. When it ended Arya tried to walk away but Aegon would not release her. 

“Pardon me My Prince, but I am beginning to get tired. I would like to sit down.” When Aegon still did not release his grasp on her, she kicked him in his shin. He let go of her immediately and fell to the ground. Arya walked away as a everyone began to crowd around Aegon. Once the commotion had settled down, Aegon had walked over and sat in the chair next to Arya. 

“You have a powerful foot.” He said as he drank a glass of wine. 

“And you have a firm grip.” She said as she rubbed her arms. “So let’s get this over with.”

“Let’s get what over with?”

“You want to say something. So say it!”

“You are a very skilled dancer.”

“Thank you My Prince.” Arya sighed as she realised that she would have to be the one asking questions. “So why has it taken you all night to talk to me?”

Aegon still said nothing.

“Well this is a riveting conversation my Prince but if you excuse me, I am going to get a drink.” Arya walked away from Prince Aegon and over towards a table full of Northerners. She felt much more comfortable drinking with them, than sitting in silence with Aegon. She drank two horns of ale and spent her time singing with the northern Lords, and arguing over proper fighting technique. 

Arya was beginning to feel a little tired, but then Ramsay Bolton had asked her to dance and that alerted her senses. After her Welcome Home feast, she has kept a close eye on the Bolton family. Ramsay had apologized for what she had overheard at the feast. He explained to her that his father was a power-hungry man, and that what she had overheard at the feast was his father’s plan, not his own. He said that he didn’t agree with the way his father handles situations, and he didn’t want to be part of his schemes. And she believed him… partially. She could tell that his story was the truth, but there were also lies that were strung into it. But overall, she liked Ramsay. He didn’t treat her like a fragile doll who would break. He treated her like a warrior. The two of them talked a lot on the road to King’s Landing. They would train together in the mornings, and they would would usually eat at least one meal together each day. 

“So how does it feel to be back in the Capital?” Ramsay asked.

“Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be… for the most part.”

“Then why do you look so upset?” he said with actually curiosity. 

“I don't know. I guess I just imaged things would be different. Part of me thought that I would be shunned by everyone at Court, part of me thought that I would be thrown out of the Red Keep for all of the problems that i’ve caused. But that didn’t happen. As strange as it sounds, I partially wish that I was shunned, that I was thrown out of the Red Keep. I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t explain why.”

“I think I know why.” Arya arched an eyebrow before he continued. “From all the information i’ve gathered, you don’t like to be the center of attention. So if you were thrown out of the Red Keep, then there would be no one here to not-so-silently judge you. But since you weren’t thrown out, this means that you are now a display piece in the Capital.” 

Arya stopped dancing and she just stared up at Ramsay. _’How is it that he knows me so well already?’_ she wondered. The two just stood still on the dance floor without realizing that neither of them were moving. “You know me so well. Which also means that you know I need an escape from this hell-hole of a city.”

Ramsay just smiled up at her and let out a small, but boisterous laugh. “You haven’t even been here a full day yet.”

“Well i’ve been here long enough. I need to feel like myself again.”

“Alright. So what time do you want to meet then?” 

“Sunrise.”

“Where?”

“Training yard. It’s been too long since we spared.”

“Arya, we spared this morning.”

“I know, but again I need to feel like myself. And sparing with Needle is the only way that I can.” She wore a pouting face that she knew worked for idiot highborn girls. Ramsay just laughed and smiled in response. The song ended and Arya wanted to go sit down. “Well I’ll see you in the morning.”

“In the morning.” And with that, Ramsay turned around and started walking out of the Great Hall and headed towards his room. 

As Arya was headed towards her seat, she heard a quiet, but strong voice say her name. She froze. Even before she turned around, she knew who it was. _Jon_. When she turned around and looked up into his big grey eyes that matched her own and everything else in the room turned to nothingness. She couldn’t hear anyone talk, she couldn’t see anyone move. The only person who she saw was him. Jon was wearing all black. Black pants Black jerkin Black dress robes. ‘ _It was always his color’_ She thought to herself. 

The two just stood facing each other. Everything felt suspended for Jon. All night he wanted to go over and talk to Arya, but he was afraid to. He knew that she must have changed over the years, and he was afraid that he would not like who she is now. Or worse, he was afraid that she wouldn't like him. But now, standing in front of her, none of that mattered. What mattered was that she was here, in King's Landing, standing in front of him. 

“Jon” her voice was so small he almost missed her say his name. 

Jon closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around Arya. He felt her arms wrap around him as well. Neither of them moved for a few minutes. Neither of them wanted to be the first to break from their embrace. Jon breathed in and was amazed to find that her scent was the same as it used to be. Snow, pine, nature… and something else Jon couldn't figure out. It was a spice of some sort. But it didn't matter.

Arya felt all of the stress leave her body once she was in Jon's arms. Everything about him felt right. His smell. His smile. His very powerful hugs that knock all the wind out of you. Arya could hear herself laughing and before she knew it, she heard Jon laughing too. _’Gods I've missed his laugh’_ she thought. 

After what felt like eternity passed, they eventually let go. 

“May I have this dance My Lady?” He asked as he bowed before her with a joking smile on his face. 

“I may have not seen you in five years, but I'm still no lady.” She said as she grabbed his hand and he directed her towards the center of the room. 

“Some things never change.”

The music began and it was a very slow, slightly depressing song. 

“I've missed you” Jon said so quietly it was barely audible. 

“I've missed you too Jon.” The two just held each other as they swayed back and forth. When the song ended neither of the let go of the other. 

“Why did you leave?” Jon knew that this wasn't the best place to ask the question, but he needed to know her answer.

“It’s a long and… _complicated_ story.”

“And I want to hear it.” 

“And I want to tell you… but I can't.” She took her arms off of his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “That's a story for a another time.” And Arya turned around and walked away. As she headed towards her room, she felt tears begin to form in her eyes. _‘Why the hell am I crying?’_ Once she was in her room, she bared the doors behind her, ripped her dress off and fell to the ground as she let the tears fall from her eyes. She tried to breath as she choked on her sobs. Her whole body shook and she could barely stand. Her mind kept drifting back to her family. It drifted to Jon, Aegon, Daenerys, the Kindly Man, and the Waif. It drifted back to all of the faces of those who she had killed. All those who she had hurt. All of their faces appeared to her, and it made her cry harder. 

A few hours later she stopped sobbing and she felt like someone had kicked her in the chest. Her body felt exhausted, and drained. Arya crawled into her bed and she realised that was the first time she's cried in a long time. She cried when she came home to Winterfell, but she didn't sob. She doesn't think that she has cried like this in… three years? Four years? 

She slowly felt her body begin to relax and she drifted into a deep dreamless sleep, completely unaware of the craziness that would unfold in the upcoming weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry if this chapter sucks  
> I wrote the first 5 chapters in 2 days. This chapter took me over two months.  
> I had serious writers block  
> But anyways, I hope you liked it and I'm sorry if you didn't 
> 
> See you next Monday :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I forgot about Theon, so I mentioned him in the chapter so you know that he came to Kings Landing with the Northern Party. 
> 
> I am really sorry that this chapter is so short  
> I'm also sorry that all of my chapters are short, but I thought that this one was much longer than it actually is

Aegon hovered his face over his younger brothers sleeping body waiting for him to wake up. “Jon” he said very soothingly. He heard Jon murmur and figured that it was working. “Jon” he said once more. 

Jon opened his eyes to find Aegon's face two inches from his own. Jon screamed and moved back to the end of his bed while Aegon just stood there laughing.

“What are you doing?” 

“Waking you up. I think I did a brilliant job.” Aegon sat down on a chair near Jon’s bed and started eating an apple. Jon sat up and grabbed his aching head. It was an unpleasant side effect from drinking too much Dornish Red. “How are you feeling? Last time I saw you, you were dancing with Arya. And then the next thing I see is her running out of the Great Hall and you grabbing a flagon of wine, and sulking in a corner.”

“I was not sulking!”

“You were the King of the Sulking Kingdoms!” Aegon shot back. “And you didn't answer my question, how are you feeling?”

Jon didn't know how he was feeling. Yesterday was crazy. When he found out that Arya was coming to King's Landing, he was happy. But that quickly turned to anger when he found out that his whole family knew and didn't tell him. And then when he saw Arya, he didn't even recognize her. And he felt so ashamed. And then when he went to the feast, he looked all around for Arya but she wasn't there. And then he saw her walk in the Great Hall holding Sansa’s hand, not even looking in his direction. But when Jon saw Arya, he felt something he never felt before form in his chest. When he watched her dance with Sansa, it felt like his heart stopped. He has never seen Arya look as beautiful than when she was laughing and dancing with her sister. His eyes were glued to Arya during every single one of her dances. Eventually Aegon didn't want to watch him gawking over Arya anymore, so he got up and asked her for a dance. When he saw Arya kick him in the shin, he started laughing. He felt better knowing that she hasn't fully changed in the past five years. For the next hour he tried not to look at Arya. He ate his food, drank some wine, and talked to some Lord's. But when he turned around, his blood began to boil. He watched as Arya was dancing with a young handsome man. Jon racked his brain trying to remember who he was. But then Arya and this man stopped dancing and they stood still, staring into each other's eyes as they spoke. This made Jon mad. He couldn't explain why, but he just wanted to take this guy and shove him against the wall and punch him. He wanted this guy to never go near Arya again. Once this man walked away, Jon got up and asked Arya for a dance. When he was dancing with Arya, nothing else mattered. The man she was dancing with before him didn't matter. The room full of people watching them didn't matter. And the Seven Kingdoms didn't matter. All that mattered was Arya. But when Arya left, it felt like he had been stabbed in the stomach with a sword. He wanted to follow her, but he needed to give her space. So he grabbed a flagon of wine and drank it alone in the corner of the hall until his brain wouldn’t let him think anymore. 

“I feel like shit.” Was all Jon could think of. 

“Well _I_ feel fine, thanks for asking.” Aegon’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “Come with me,” he said as he extended his hand to Jon, “you could use some fresh air. Let's go and talk.” 

After much convincing, Jon finally got up. He put on a simple pair of black breeches and a black tunic. He and Aegon were talking about how Rhynese was travelling from Dorne and should be in the Red Keep in three days time. As they were walking, they noticed a crowd of people were gathered in the training yard. 

When they arrived they saw Arya sparing with the man she was dancing with the night before. Her brothers were on the sidelines cheering for her appointment. Jon heard them call him ‘Ramsay’. He looked around and saw several, extremely sweaty men sitting on the ground. Arya looked exhausted, but she kept fighting with fervor. Jon was wondering if she had fought all of those men when all of the sudden he saw Arya was sitting on top of Ramsay. Her legs were holding him down, and her right arm was slung across his chest as she held a knife to his throat. Ramsay yielded and she let helped him up. 

People were congratulating Arya and telling Ramsay that he'll get her next time.

Jon and Aegon looked at each other, unsure of what was going on. So the two of them walked over towards the Stark brothers. 

“Prince Aegon, Prince Jon, good morning.” Robb smile as he performed an over dramatic bow. 

“Good morning Robb.” Aegon said. “So what has been going on over here? I didn't think anyone would be practicing so early in the morning after a feast.” 

“Well Arya and Ramsay are usually practicing by sunrise everyday so we decided to come and watch. And apparently others decided to watch as well.” Robb signalled to the crowd of fifty people watching. 

“So far this morning Arya has already bested thirteen people, and some she won multiple times.” Rickon told them. 

“That’s impressive.” Aegon said. 

“I’m surprised that Arya is still standing. She has been sparring for several hours without taking a break.” As Rickon was talking, Arya and Ramsay walked over to where they stood. 

“That was a good fight,” Bran said as he poured Arya and Ramsay a glass of water. 

“It wasn’t our best.” Arya said as she took a few deep breaths. “Prince Aegon, Prince Jon I would like you to meet Ramsay Bolton.” 

“Prince Aegon, Prince Jon” Ramsay said as he bowed before them. 

Ramsay stood very close to Arya, and it made Jon want to pummel him. 

“I have to ask, Arya where did you learn to fight like that?” Aegon asked. Jon noticed that all of Arya’s siblings, including Theon Greyjoy, looked up to hear what Arya’s words would be. 

“Across the Narrow Sea.” Was all she said. Everyone looked disappointed by her answer. It made Jon wonder if they knew where Arya went, and what she did while she was away. 

“Where across the Narrow Sea to be exact?” 

“In many different places.”

“And where were those places?” 

Arya didn’t speak for a few moments. When she spoke, no one liked her answer. “It’s funny that you so talkative now, My Prince, because you were so antisocial last night.” 

Aegon just stared at her, unsure how to respond. 

“My apologies My Prince, but I must go back to my rooms and get clean. I am having tea with Princess Daenerys and I cannot show up smelling like the training yard.” 

“Well then we will continue this conversation another time. I know that the Red Keep can be confusing, so Jon will take you to your room.” When Aegon was done talking, he grabbed both Jon and Arya by the arm and shoved them in the direction of the castle.

Jon looked at Arya awkwardly and Arya just rolled her eyes and laughed. 

When they were out of sight of everyone else, they started talking. “Your fighting was very impressive. I’m glad you learned how to use Needle properly.” Jon told her.

Arya looked up at him and her face broke out into a large smile and it made Jon’s heart melt.   
“You remembered the name I gave it!” 

“Of course I did.” 

Arya hesitated before speaking “I’m sorry about running off last night. It was just too much for me. I needed to leave. I had to get out.” 

“That’s alright. Are feeling any better now?” 

“To be honest, I kind of just want to scream. I’ve only been in King’s Landing for a day, and I already feel suffocated. I guess I’ve sort of felt that way since I returned home, but now being King’s Landing there are so many eyes on me. So many people watching the mysterious Stark girl who abandoned her family.”

“I understand how you feel.” Arya looked up to find Jon’s gray eyes staring at her. “I have lived in King’s Landing my whole life. I am the son of the King. I’m second in line for the Iron Throne. When I was younger I thought that I was lucky because of those things. But now… now I know that it is a curse that I can’t escape from. When I was growing up I realized that I was never alone. There were always guards following me, or there were always spies who would report all of my whereabouts to either the Master of Whisperers or my Father. So I always looked forward to our visits to Winterfell or when you would come to the Red Keep. You always knew how to find the best places to hide. You always knew the best places to go where no eyes were watching us. It made me feel free.” 

The two of them walked in silence for few minutes. 

“So you're having tea with Daenerys, that's sounds fun.” Jon told her. 

“I doubt it. She is just going to ask me about my travels. What I did, who I met, where I went. I went through a lot when I was away and I'm just… not ready to talk about it.” Jon watched as Arya’s calm demeanor slowly melted away into a frown. “All anyone does is ask me about when I was away. I understand that they're curious, but I can't tell them. The night I returned to Winterfell I had to lie to my father. I told him about where I went, but I lied about what I did. I know that if I tell him, he'll be so ashamed of me. He will never look at me the same way again.” 

 

A single tear ran down Arya’s face. The two of them stopped walking and Jon put his large hand on Arya's cheek and wiped away the tear with his thumb. Arya shivered under his touch. 

“I don't think that your father would look at you any different if you told him what you did.” 

“And how do you know that?” She asked in a small voice. 

“Because he loves you.” His voice sounded confident, so powerful. 

The two of them stood still. Jon's hands were still cupping Arya’s face. Neither of them spoke.   
Arya felt like her face was on fire. She didn't know that so much heat could be radiated from someone's hands. Normally she would feel unnerved from someone staring at her so intently. But for some reason she didn't. Instead she felt something deep in her stomach yearn to close the gap between them. She didn't understand it, but it felt powerful. She shivered under Jon's touch which seemed to break to the spell. Jon took his hands off of Aryas face and cleared his throat. The two resumed walking in silence.

When they reached Arya’s chamber Jon grabbed Arya’s hand before she could enter her room. “I want to you to know that whatever you have been doing these past years, I will never look at you differently because of it.” 

“You say that now, but you haven't heard what I've done.” Her voice was so small Jon almost didn't hear her. 

“I promise you Arya, nothing you say can changed how I see you.” Jon quickly let go of her hand, turned around, and walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya and Daenerys talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, sorry for all grammar mistakes

When Arya walked into her chamber she found a silk dress laying on her bed with a note from Daenerys asking her to wear it. When Arya examined the dress she realised that it was from Essos. 

After Arya had scraped the dirt and sweat from her skin she put on the dress. It was a mixture of dark and light blue. When she moved, it looked like she was wearing water. The dress was sleeveless and the fabric was connected over her shoulder by golden plate. 

Arya wishes that she were wearing breeches but she knew that it would be a bad idea to refuse a princess. 

When Arya opened her door to leave, she found Robb standing outside waiting for her. When Robb saw her, his eyes widened. 

“Whenever I think about you Little Sister, I forget that you aren't the young scrappy eleven year old I remember.” 

“Shut up” Arya shoved him as she closed the door behind her and they begin to walk towards Daenerys chambers. 

“Did Daenerys give you that dress?” 

“Yes. It was laying on my bed when I arrived. It appears that she did not want to see me arrive in breeches.” 

“When you were younger, every time that you saw each other she would give you a dress. I suppose she wanted to continue with that tradition. Did you forget?” 

“I suppose it did.” The two of walked in silence for a moment, listening to the echo of their footfall on the marble floor. “I know that things have been slightly awkward between the two of us since I returned, but I want that to change.” 

“As do I.” 

“So I promise that I will be a perfect Lady for Daenerys.” 

“Thank you” 

When they arrived at Daenerys chamber, Robb knocked on the door. When Daenerys opened the door her face lit up into a large smile. Robb said “My Lady”, bowed, and kissed her cheek before turning around and leaving his sister alone with his betrothed. 

“Princess Daenerys” Arya tried to do a curtsy, but she almost fell on her face in the process. 

Daenerys only smiled and invited her in the room. Arya noticed that Daenerys’s room huge. There was a large balcony, two desks, many fancy lavish chairs, and a large canopy bed in the center. Her room overlooked the ocean, and the walls were covered in colorful tapestries. The room was full of natural light. 

“You look beautiful in that dress.” Daenerys said as she sat down in one of her lavish chairs and gestured for Arya to sit in the one opposite of her. 

“Thank you My Lady.”

“Arya we are alone, you can call me Daenerys.”

“Alright then, Daenerys.”

“I had so many questions that I wanted to ask you about your time in Essos!” 

“I also have many questions to ask you. For starters, where did you get this dress? You know that I have never been interested in fashion, but I know it’s from Essos but I cannot tell where specifically.”

“Qarth” 

_’Qarth?! But I heard that nothing was left in Qarth after it was attacked.’_ Arya thought.   
“Have you ever visited Qarth?” She asked 

“I visited there before my beloved brother passed. That reminds me, I wanted to thank you for what you said yesterday. It meant a lot to me.” 

Arya studied Daenerys face. She wore her prize winning smile that many would sympathize for, but Arya was still not fooled.” 

“You are very welcome. So when did you procure this dress?” 

“I have a small trading network there. There are many goods that we use here in the Capital that we get from Qarth. Silk and spices are a few examples. 

“Really? That is very strange.”

“Why is that?” Arya detected a quiver in Daenerys’s voice. 

“Because last I heard, Qarth was pillaged by a group of Dothraki. All the gold was stolen and all of the thirteen rulers were slaughtered.”

Daenerys’s eyes widened and her face paled considerably. She stood up and walked to the other side of her room, facing away from Arya. 

“Where did you hear that lady Arya?” Her voice sounded very timid. 

“I heard it around a year and a half ago. I travelled to the Dothraki Sea and I overheard some people talking about how the escaped ‘Khaleesi’ and her Khalasar ruining Qarth. 

Daenerys turned around and it seemed that she regained her voice. “You can speak Dothraki?” 

“I learned several languages when I was away. Dothraki was one of them.” 

“And what did you hear the Dothraki say about this ‘escaped Khaleesi’?” 

“Only that she killed her Khal with blood magic.” Arya saw that Daenerys had formed a small tear in the corner of her eye. “Are you alright Daenerys?” Arya walked over to Daenerys just in time to catch her as she fell towards the ground and started sobbing. Arya wrapped her arms around Daenerys and started talking in a soothing voice. 

After what felt like hours passed, Daenerys regained her composure and was able to stand up. Arya helped her up and began to process what happened. 

After Daenerys sat down, she would not meet Arya’s eyes. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Arya just stared at Daenerys trying to figure out what she was hiding when all of the sudden she realised it. 

Arya gasped so loudly that Daenerys looked up in a split second.“YOU WERE THE RUNAWAY KHALEESI!”

“Keep your voice down!” Daenerys hissed at her. 

“Seven Hells! I knew you were hiding something, but I didn’t think that it was this.” 

“What do you mean that you knew I was hiding something?” Daenerys sounded offended by Arya’s words. 

“When I was away, I learned how to tell when people were lying. I learned how to detect when people were hiding things. So when I told you about how I was sorry for your brothers death yesterday, I knew that you weren’t really upset. I saw the face you made. It was very convincing. But it wasn’t enough to fool me.” 

Daenerys took a long, deep breath before speaking. “My brother… was a cruel man. My whole life he has beat me, and threatened me, and blamed me for all the problems he faced in his life. He was also… very power hungry.” Daenerys’s purple eyes looked up into Arya’s grey ones. “My brother blamed Rhaegar for a lot. Since he ran away with your Aunt and started a war, Viserys thought that he should not be seated on the Iron Throne. So one day he decided that the two of us were going to Pentos. 

When we arrived in Pentos, Viserys abandoned me. We went to Magister Illyrio’s castle and Viserys always disappeared. Whenever I saw him, he was always whispering into someone’s ear or someone was whispering into his. It was like that for a few weeks. But then all of the sudden Viserys came to me as I was bathing. He handed me a sheer purple gown and told me to wear it. When I put it on he brought me outside. We stood there for an hour. I tried to ask Viserys what was happening, but he kept telling me to be quiet. Eventually a Horde of Dothraki Screamers showed up. They were led by a tall, muscular man with the longest hair I’ve ever seen. He and his horse circled around me twice. Only twice. And then he left. Viserys then told me I was to be his bride. I tried to write home. I tried to write to Rhaegar, but Viserys locked me up in my room. I couldn't escape. Viserys planned to sell me to the Dothraki in order to use them as his army. He wanted to attack King’s Landing and take the Iron Throne. 

So I was wedded Khal Drogo two days later. I was so terrified. I was married to a man I had never met, we did not speak the same language, we did not have the same interests. I was miserable. The first month was the hardest. The Dothraki didn't understand intimacy. They did not know how to lie with women, they only knew how to fuck them.” Daenerys closed her eyes as she replayed the painful memory in her mind. “For weeks Drogo would come into our tent at night and ride me like one of his horses. My insides felt broken. My whole life I had heard stories from women who were raped, but I never realised how terrible it was until it happened to me.   
But one day it all changed. I had been taking lessons to learn the Dothraki language since I'd been married. I was able to say and understand simple sentences. So I spoke to one of my handmaiden and she taught me how to please my husband. So that night, I taught the Khal a different style of intimacy. And he liked it. A lot. So four moons later I found out I was pregnant with his baby. We traveled to Vaes Dothrak and I ate a horse heart before the Mother of Mountains. I was told that I was carrying his son. ‘The stallion who will mount the world’. I have never seen Drogo look happier than in that moment. 

I loved my Sun and Stars more than anything in the World. Around three moons after I found out I was pregnant, Viserys was angry that Drogo’s Khalasar wasn’t making any preparations to travel across the Narrow Sea. So one night, during a feast, he made a big scene. He threaten to leave and take me with him. He held his sword at my pregnant belly and threatened to cut his son out of my stomach and leave it for him. Drogo took off his golden belt and tossed it into a cauldron that was resting over hot flames. He had two of his blood riders hold Viserys back as he poured the liquid gold over his head. He was dead.” Arya should have felt unsettled by the smile that formed on Daenerys face, but she wasn’t. Oddly enough, she had more respect for the princess. 

“Four moons after that, a member of Drogo’s Khalasar tried to rape women of a local village. I told him to stop, but he did not want to. He went to Drogo and claimed that he would not let a woman tell him what not to do. When he insulted me, Drogo killed the man with his own bare hands. But he was injured in the fight. He got a deep cut on his chest. He claimed that he was fine, but I had one of the healers from the village look at it. She put a potion on his chest to help mend the wound, but it didn’t work. The wound got infected. My Sun and Stars was dying. I needed to help him. So I had the healer I saved try to save him. She said that the only way to save his life was with blood magic. I told her to do whatever she needed to do in order to save my husband. She warned me that only death will pay for life. So she slaughtered Drogo’s prized steed. While the witch was performing some sort of blood magic ceremony, I went into labour. When I woke up, she told me that my baby was dead. _Only death may pay for life._ ”   
Arya reached out and grabbed Daenerys hand as several tears began to fall from the young princess's eyes. “Almost all of his Khalasar left. Drogo had the largest Khalasar in Dothraki history. There are one hundred thousand Dothraki alive today. Drogo’s Khalasar had consisted of forty-thousand. And almost all of them abandoned him. When I went to see Drogo, he was dead. His heart was still beating, but he could not move. He couldn’t speak. He just stared into the space in front of him as if no one was there. I knew that Drogo would rather die than live in that state, so I said my final goodbye and pressed a pillow against his face. That night we made the largest funeral pyre that was ever made. When I set it ablaze, I walked into the flame. I did not want to live in this world if Drogo could not be there with me. In the morning I woke up naked, surrounded by ash and soot. But I was not dead. The fire did not burn my skin. 

The remainder of Drogo’s Khalasar pledged allegiance to me. But the problem was that I could not keep them alive. We had little food, almost no water, and we were in the middle of the desert. Eventually, we found ourselves in front of the gates of Qarth, but they refused to let us in. When one of the men learnt what my name was, he let me in. I stayed in Qarth for several moons, as I grieved for My Sun and Stars. I wrote a letter to my brother, the first letter I had written in a year in a half. I told him that Viserys had died a few months earlier from an illness. And I would return home in a few moons time. Before I left, the members of the thirteen refused to let me leave. They held me captive. They were about to send a letter to Rhaegar, demanding payment in exchange for me. But my Khalasar attacked the members of the thirteen and city failed. We took most of the coin and riches the city had. Most of it was given to help the poor who live in Flea Bottom and to those who are extremely poor in other areas of the Seven Kingdoms. My Khalasar did not wish to come with me to Westeros, so they stayed. My Khalasar now rule the small bit of Qarth that remains. I send letters to my former handmaidens and they send me many gifts such as spices, and silk. Your dress was one of the many that were sent to me.” 

“But I heard that Qarth was bankrupted and deserted.”

“We made sure that people believed that. And I was not going to kick out the people who lived there. I am not a monster.”

Arya looked back and forth between Daenerys and the floor. Arya was amazed at how strong Daenerys was, considering all that she went through. “Daenerys… I am so sorry.”

“You did nothing wrong Arya.” 

Arya ran her hands through her hair as she tried to think of what to say. “How did you hide this from everyone?”

“Whenever someone would ask me about my travels, I would get choked up as I had earlier. People would assume I was crying over Viserys, when I was really crying over Drogo.”

“... Does Robb know? About any of it?” 

“No… he does not know any of it. I want you to know Arya, that I have grown to care for your brother. I do love him.” Daenerys looked into Arya’s eyes as she spoke, “Please promise me that you will not tell him. I do intend on telling him the truth. I will. But I cannot do it just yet.” 

“I promise you, I won’t tell him a thing.” Arya understood to keep a secret from those you love. 

“Since I’ve told you my story, I want to hear yours. What did you do when you were in Essos. Where did you go?”

Arya took a shaky breath. She looked up into Dany’s bright purple eyes, and she told her entire story. She told Daenerys about her training. About all the murders she’s committed. All the tasks the Kindly Man gave her. All the places she’s travelled. All the terrible things she had to endure and inflict on others. Arya didn’t spare a single detail. When she finished talking, she expected Daenerys to call for her guards or scream at her to get out of her sight. What she didn’t expect was for Daenerys to stand up and give Arya a large hug. Daenerys’s embrace made Arya realise what she has just done. Arya hasn’t told a single person her whole story from Essos. So many emotions settled into Arya’s chest. All of the sudden her emotionless expression changed into one of pain, regret, and sorrow. Arya felt herself crumble to the ground. Her chest felt like it was being crushed by a boulder. She heard her own sobs being released from her body. She didn’t understand what was wrong with her. She cried last night and she is crying now. But she wasn’t focusing on that now. She tried to focus and Daenerys’s calming voice that was telling her everything was alright. 

Arya doesn’t know how long she cried, but Daenerys never let go. When Arya had finally regained her composure, she stood up and settled back onto one of Dany’s many comfortable chairs. 

“Arya.” Daenerys said, “Thank you for trusting me with your story. I promise you that I will never tell a soul what you just told me.”

“You know, I really am happy that you will be my good-sister.” 

The two of them ate bread, cheese, and freshly caught rabbit, and drank the finest Dornish Red in the Capital. The two talked for hours. 

By the time Arya had left Daenerys she felt a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. Arya was glad that she now had someone who she could talk to. Someone who she could fully trust with her secrets.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that I didn't get my update out last Monday! This chapter is a little longer than usual so hopefully you'll like it :)

When Arya arrived at her room, she noticed Jory Cassel standing outside her door waiting for her. 

“Hello Jory!” Arya said. 

“Milady,” He said as he bowed, “I’ve been sent to escort you to dinner. Your family is dining with the Royal family tonight. You lady mother requested that you wear a dress, but I think that you current outfit will please her.”

The two turned and began to walk in a comfortable silence. “How are you enjoying that Capital so far little Lady?”

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. But it still smells like shit and I want to go home.”

“I miss the North as well Milady. But do not fret, we will return there soon.” 

When Arya arrived at the King's private dining quarters, she felt nervous. But she knew that her family was on the other side of the door. Nothing would happen if they were there. When the guards opened the door for her she realised that everyone except Daenerys was there. When she walked into the room, she saw the King’s eyes light up. 

“King Rhaegar,” she said as she curtsied, “Thank you so much for your gracious invitation.” Arya wanted to sit down in a chair next to her father, but on his left was the King and his right was her mother. Arya walked over to an empty chair in between Jon and Aegon and sat down.

Once the food was brought to the table, everyone began talking in their own conversations. 

“Is Princess Daenerys not joining us?” Arya asked to no one in particular. 

“The Princess was tired and wanted to rest. She sends her apologies.” The King said. 

“Is she feeling alright?” Robb asked with slight worry in his voice. 

“She is feeling well, but she and Lady Arya spent a long day together and she feeling tired.” 

Robb looked relieved by the news. 

Jon leaned over and whispered in Arya's ear. “Did tea with my Aunt go as bad as you expected it would?” 

Arya could feel his hot breath on her neck, it sent bumps down her spine. “It went better than I thought it would be. I'm excited to spend more time with her when we return to Winterfell.” 

Jon doesn't understand why those words hurt him so much. He tries to tell himself that he was just going to miss Daenerys. But he knew that wasn't what made him feel so sad. Arya just returned to him. He didn't like the thought of her leaving again. 

“Lady Arya your dress is beautiful!” Margaery said. She was sitting on the other side of Aegon. She wore a light blue dress with a plunging neckline. Her brown eyes sparkled as she spoke. 

“Thank you Princess Margaery. It was a gift from Princess Daenerys.”

“She has wonderful taste doesn't she? The different shades of blue are beautiful against your fair skin.” Margaery spoke as if the two girls were close friends. Arya smiled politely and thanked her, but she didn't further engage in a conversation with her. 

“So Arya, are you enjoying the Capital?” Aegon asked Arya, wearing a cocky smirk. 

“It smells like shit.” 

“Arya!” Catelyn and Sansa shouted at her across the table. Robb, Bran, Rickon, Jon, and Aegon laughed, Margaery looked surprised, Ned places his head in his hands, and the King just stared at Arya, wearing a puzzled expression. Arya just took a long drink from her glass of wine, refusing to look at anyone. 

“I am so sorry Your Grace,” Catelyn said to the King, “Arya did not mean to offend you. She never learned how to keep her thoughts to herself. Arya apologize to the King.” 

“Their is no need Catelyn. Arya did not say anything that isn’t true. It does smell like shit.” King Rhaegar smiled at Arya. 

_‘She really is Lyanna reborn’_ He thought to himself. 

Arya politely smiled back, but once again she felt unnerved by his stare. His expression was a mix of pain and sorrow, but his eyes stared at Arya with lust. 

The servants came in a put food on the table. There were several different varieties of meat, fruit, cheese, and wine. 

Arya didn’t speak for most of the meal. She sat in silence unless someone spoke to her. When the table was finally cleared, she wished everyone a goodnight, and excused herself from the table. 

When she arrived at her room, she took off the dress Daenerys gave her and put on a simple chemise over her underclothes and got into bed. Arya laid in her bed, tossing and turning for hours. Arya was exhausted, but her eyes would not stayed closed. Eventually she decided that she could not stay in her room. She decided that she was going to see the Godswood. Even though it was uncomfortably warm in King’s Landing, she still took a cloak for modesty.   
Arya placed her ear on her door to make sure that no one was outside her door before she left. She ran through corridors, ducked behind statues, hid against the wall until she reached the Godswood. 

As she walked through the Godswood, it made her think about Winterfell. She missed the Godswood in Winterfell. She missed Winterfell. She missed the crisp cool air, and the natural hot springs. When Arya finally stumbled upon the Weirwood tree, she was surprised to find out that she wasn't the only one there. 

Jon was kneeling before the tree with his eyes closed. Arya wondered what he was praying about. 

“Since when did you worship the Old Gods?” Arya asked. She walked towards the tree, took off her cloak, placed it on the ground, and sat on it next to Jon. “I thought you worshiped The Seven.” 

Jon's eyes traveled up and down Arya’s body. She wore a chemise over her underclothes, but it was almost completely see through. “I've grown a lot more appreciation recently.” He said. Jon kept his eyes trained on the tree in front of him, instead of Arya’s body. 

“And why is that?”

“While you were away, I spent a year at the Wall.” 

“Really?” When?”

“I arrived at Castle Black around a year and a half ago. I served as a temporary Night's Watchmen.” 

“I didn't know that their were ‘temporary Night's Watchmen’.” 

“There aren't. Even though the brothers of the Night's Watch don't serve the King of the Seven Kingdoms, I was still allowed to train with them. Father promised the Lord Commander one hundred men and a many wagons full of food and ale and weapons.” 

“Why did you go to the Night’s Watch to begin with?” 

“I wanted freedom. Father kept telling me that I had to marry soon, and he kept prepping me to be the King. I understand that at the moment I am second in line for the throne, but I don't want the throne. I never did. So eventually the Capital became too much for me to handle, so I told my father that I wanted to go to the Wall. I told him that I would take the Black and relinquish all my lands and titles. But he needed his heir in case something happened to Aegon. So he made a deal with me. He was going to let me train at Castle Black for a year, and I was going to come home and marry. So I agreed, and a week later I began my journey North.”

“What was it like?” Arya remembered the two of them talking about visiting the Wall together when they were children. 

“It was cold. It was hard at first. Some people treated me like the King’s son, or they treated me like a high born looking for glory and decided to take advantage of the Night's Watch. But there were some people who treated me like everyone else. It was there that I realised who my real friends were. There was Sam, Grenn, Pyp, and Ed. They treated me as one of their brothers. When I was there, I helped by teaching the new recruits how to wield a sword. I served as the Lord Commander’s personal steward. I learned a lot from him. He took me with him on missions North of the Wall, I sat in with him at his meetings. He taught me how to be a better person. He taught me how to be humble. How to be brave… I saved his life once. As a thank you, he gave me his family's valyrian steel blade.” Jon unsheathed a great long sword and held it in front of him “It's called Longclaw.”

Neither of them spoke. Arya examined Longclaw. She let her fingers glide across the rippled pattern down the middle. Eventually Jon broke the silence. “After I’d been there for a year, I was going to join them. I was going to become an official member of the Night's Watch.”

“What changed your mind?” 

Jon finally turned to face Arya. He examined the strands of dark brown hair that escaped from her messy braid. He looked at her slightly freckled fair skin. When his eyes locked onto hers, he spoke. “You.” 

“Me?”

“I knew that you would return one day.” He felt himself slowly moving closer towards her as he spoke. “I knew that you would come home. But I also knew that if you came back, I wouldn't be able to see you. I would not be able to leave my post at the Wall. And I had to see you again Arya. I had to.” When he stopped talking, his nose was only an inch away from hers. Jon knew that he should probably back away from Arya, but he couldn't get his legs to move. He felt something swirl in the bottom of his stomach. It was a good feeling. Jon slowly closed his eyes, and moved forward until his lips touched hers. 

It was soft and gentle, but over too quick. Jon pulled back before Arya was able to kiss him back. When she opened her eyes Jon looked upset. “I'm sorry Arya” he began to say, but Arya lurched forward and pressed her lips to his. This kiss was much stronger. It was much more passionate. Arya felt a blush rise in her cheeks, but she didn't care. She could feel Jon’s hands wrap around her waist. She put her arms around his neck and closed the gap between them. Arya could feel Jon’s tongue on her lower lip, asking for permission to enter her mouth. As she granted it, she could hear herself moaning in Jon’s mouth. 

When they finally broke apart, they were gasping for air. Arya raised her hands and felt her swollen lips. She could barely contain the grin that was forming on her face. 

“I’m sorry. That was improper of me. I shouldn't have done that.” Jon started mumbling. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for. So stop apologizing. And I kissed you back, so don't act like I was someone you took advantage of.” Arya said as she held his hands. 

“But Arya it was not right. If someone had walked by and saw this, your reputation could be one tarnished.” 

“My reputation? What reputation? I sent my reputation to all the Seven Hells when I left Winterfell five years ago!” 

“Well someone might question your honor if they saw us like this.”

“Jon… I'm not a maid. I've laid with men before. My ‘honor’ that you are trying to protect, does not exist.” 

Arya doesn't really know why she lied to Jon about laying with men. She supposed that it was because she didn't want to see him paranoid around her. But after she said it, she regretted it. The look on his face made her heart ache. 

Jon knew that Arya was trying to make him feel reassured, but the fact that she has laid with men makes his blood boil. He didn't like the thought of another man kissing her lips. Another man touching her naked skin. Another man making her moan in their mouth. He had to look away. Jon cleared his throat before he spoke. “Well I'll leave you to your prayers.” 

Arya spoke as he began to walk away. “I don't pray. I don't really have the same Faith in them as I used to.”

“Why not? You're from the North, the North worship the Old Gods.”

“When I was away I began to worship another religion. It made me change my view on all of the Gods.”

“In what way?”

“All Gods are the same God. The only difference is that they wear different faces from each other.” Jon turned to look at Arya, but she wasn't looking at him. She was kneeling In front of the weirwood and her hands were placed on the bark. “The Gods are no one. And no one is the Gods.” 

“You may be right.” Jon sat as he knelt beside her. “But you may be wrong. We will never know which God is real, or even if the Gods are real at all. Everyone has different beliefs and worships different God’s. Who knows if there even is a one true God. ” 

“I have done horrible things in the name of my one true God. Terrible things.”

“Who is your one true God?”

“Death.” Arya’s voice was completely flat as she spoke. It sent chills down Jon’s spine. Her face didn't portray any emotion and her eyes stared into the Weirwoods bark. 

“Arya…” Jon needed to ask this question, even though he figured he already knew her answer. “Did you kill anyone while you were away.” Jon watched as Arya closed her eyes and a single tear ran down her face. 

“More than I can count.” Her eyes were still closed and her hands were still on the Weirwood, but her voice trembled. 

“Look at me.” Arya slowly opened her eyes and turned her body towards Jon. She felt the warmth of his hands spread to hers. “We have all done things that we regret.” 

“But… what if I don’t regret it? Not entirely?” Arya shut her eyes so she wouldn’t see Jon’s judgemental gaze stare down at her. “I did a lot of horrible things. Some to people who deserved it, and some to people who didn’t. But I learned a lot while I was away. And five years ago, if I knew everything that I would’ve gone through, everything I did, I wouldn’t undo my choice.” Arya felt Jon press a quick kiss to her forehead before walking out of the Godswood and leaving her alone. 

************************

Arya stayed in the Godswood longer than she should have. 

When she opened her eyes, the sun was raised high in the sky. Arya realised that she fell asleep in the Godswood. She could hear people shuffling all around her. She could hear orders being yelled in the wind. People were yelling, “Find the girl! Search everywhere!” 

Arya realised that they were talking about her. She grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around herself. Quickly she ran further into the Godswood, her body concealed by the tree’s. Looking through the branches, she could see her father, Jon, Aegon, and a handful of guards running through the Godswood. 

“This is the last place you saw her?” Her father asked Jon. 

“Yes. Late last night.” Jon said looking at the ground underneath the Weirwood. 

“Well she couldn’t have gotten too far!” Ned said as he began giving orders to his guards to check different parts of the Red Keep and the city. He turned and left the Godswood leaving Jon and Aegon alone. 

“And what were you doing with Lady Arya alone, late at night little brother?” Aegon asked wearing a cheeky smirk on his face. 

“Get that stupid smile off of your face Egg.” Jon said looking annoyed. “We were talking.” 

“And what did you talk about?” 

“Nothing that concerns you!” 

“Calm down Jon I am only teasing you. But be honest with me,” Aegon leaned closer to Jon that it made it hard for Arya to hear what they were saying. “If Arya is hiding in your bedroom, I can help you get her out unnoticed. You don’t need to hide that from me.” 

Jon shoved Aegon ruffley away from him. “Fuck off Aegon!” he yelled before storming out of the Godswood. Aegon looked around one final time at his surroundings before following his brother. 

Arya quickly left the Godswood, running down corridors, hiding behind plants until reaching her chamber. Luckily all of the guards were looking for her, and there was no one guarding her room. She quickly changed into a pair of breeches and a clean leather Jerkin. She then ran to the other end of the castle, dodging guards and servants until she reached Daenerys chambers. She started banging on the door until Daenerys opened the door. Daenerys took one look at her before engulfing her in a large hug. 

“Thank the Gods!” Daenerys said with a large smile. “The entire castle believes that you ran away again. What happened?” 

Arya looked behind her to make sure that they were alone before entering Daenerys chamber. “I fell asleep in the Godswood last night. I tried to get inside the castle without being seen. I think I did a pretty successful job. But that doesn’t matter! I need your help. I need an alibi. I need to tell my father that I slept in your chambers last night. Because if he, or anybody else, believes that I tried to run away then I will never be alone again. I will always have guards following me wherever I go. But if he believes that I was with you, then I will still have some form of freedom.” 

“Arya I want to help, but when Jon woke me up to tell me that you were missing, he asked me if I knew where you were. I told him I didn’t.” Daenerys said. 

“I’ll tell Jon the truth, but I need my father to believe that I was with you. Can you please tell people the same?” Daenerys looked into Arya’s large pleading eyes and knew that she had to help. 

“Fine. What’s our story?” 

“I came to your room very late last night, after returning from the Godswood. You didn’t want me wondering the castle alone at night so you invited me to stay in your room. And that’s where I’ve been all night and morning until I returned to my room to get changed and went to go get breakfast.” 

“Alright. Goodluck.”

“Thank you Daenerys.” Arya gave Daenerys a quick hug before running to the kitchen to get breakfast.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at grammar!  
> It's a curse!

“You’re telling me that you were in Princess Daenerys’s chambers this whole time?” Ned asked his daughter who he found raiding the kitchen. 

“Yes.” 

“Arya I’ve had my guard out looking for you all morning!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.” Arya said wearing an innocent look on her face. 

“Come with me.” He said as he walked out of the kitchen. 

“Where are we going?” 

“To a meeting of the small council.” 

Arya’s never been inside the small council meeting room before, but she knew that it was considered a ‘privilege’ to attend a meeting. But Arya knew that it wasn’t. Everytime she went to King’s Landing as a child, her father always attended meetings to help King Rhaegar strategize and keep his Kingdom in one unified piece. She always remembered seeing her father looking completely drained after meetings. 

“Why?” 

Ned kept walking and didn’t answer his nagging daughter. When they reached the council chamber, which was located in a room that was connected to the Throne Room. Before they walked in, Ned abruptly stopped and turned around to face his daughter. 

“When we go in, you are going to apologize to the King for all the trouble you caused.” He began to elaborate when he saw the confusion etched on his daughters face. “King Rhaegar graciously sent out some of his personal guards to help look for you.” 

“Why do I have to apologize? I didn’t ask him to send out his guards!”

“Maybe not, but he is the King and he decided to help look for you when he didn’t have to. Many consider that a great honor.” 

“Well I’m not one of those people.” Arya said stubbornly. 

Ned let out a deep sigh, looking into his stubborn daughters eyes. “I know that love,” He put his hand on her shoulder, “but you need to apologize. For the sake of appearances.” 

‘Fine.” Arya followed her father as the entered the council chamber. She had to admit, she was unimpressed. It was just a long table with chairs around it. Nothing special. Arya noticed that the room was occupied by several people. The King looked tired as he stared down at several papers in front of him. The Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister, stared at the King as if waiting for a response. Barristan Selmy, the Commander of the Kingsguard. The Master of Whisperers, Lord Varys. Prince Aegon stood beside his father, his eyes widened with surprise when he saw Arya. Prince Jon was so lost in thought that he hadn’t even noticed they walked into the room. There were several other people in attendendance who Arya did not know. 

“King Rhaegar,” Ned said bending down one one knee. The King looked up surprised. The room was silent for a moment before Ned looked at his youngest daughter, urging her to do as he had. 

“King Rhaegar,” Arya said and bent down on one knee as well. The two stayed in that position until the King addressed them. 

“Lady Arya is nice to see you again. May I ask where the guards found you?” Arya heard the annoyance in his voice. She could tell that he was angry by the thought that she had left once more. 

Getting off the ground slowly, Arya walked forward until her hands rested on the council table. She looked her King in the eyes as she addressed him. “Actually it was my father who found me, Your Grace. I had slept in Princess Daenerys’s chamber last night. When I woke up I was famished, my father found me on my way to the kitchen.” 

“Well it is a relief to know that you are safe and sound here in the Red Keep.” The King said as a small smile formed on his face. 

“I must apologize for all the trouble I caused My King. I greatly appreciate that you sent your guards out to find me.” 

The words don't sound genuine. They sounded forced, and the King noticed. He stared at Arya, thinking about how similar she was to her Aunt Lyanna. He noticed a small look of annoyance in her eyes. Her face remained neutral, completely lacking any trace of emotion. But her eyes showed all the emotion that her face didn’t. He cleared his voice before speaking. “It was no problem My Lady.” 

She bowed before turning around and walking back towards her father. Ned began to thank the King for everything he has done, but Arya wasn’t listening to her. She was staring at Jon who looked right back at her. His stare had one clear message: _Where were you really?_

She smirked at his as if saying: _You’ll never know._

“Arya.” She turned her head towards her father who was now facing her. “You may return to your chambers now.” 

She bowed to King Rhaegar once more before turning around and headed towards the exit. 

“Jon escort Lady Arya to her chambers.” King Rhaegar said. Arya stopped at his words and turned around. The King didn’t even look at his son. He was staring too intently on Arya. He looked at her as if saying: _You are not getting away from me that easily._ Arya felt uncomfortable by that thought. But before she could give it much thought, Jon was at her side and they were walking out of the Council Chamber. 

“Where in seven hells were you Arya?” Jon asked once they were far away from the council chambers. 

“I fell asleep in the Godswood.” She said simply. 

Jon’ eyes widened. “I went back there this morning with your father. We were looking for you. You must have left before we arrived. 

“Actually I was hiding behind a tree.” Arya started laughing when she saw the look on Jon’s face. 

“You are as sneaky as always.” He said disapprovingly, but he found himself laughing as well. 

They walked for a few minutes in comfortable silence. It was peaceful, so naturally Arya began talking. “What are you doing today?” 

“I have to go back to the small council. There are a lot of preparations that have to be made regarding the wedding and the tourney.”

“Are you going to enter the tourney?” Arya asked even though she already knew the answer. 

“Of course! I’ve been meeting with the blacksmith Tobho Mott. He isn’t the castle’s blacksmith, he works in Fleabottom. I’ve told father that he is ten times better than the castle’s blacksmith. He doesn’t believe me. But he will when he sees the new armour Tahbo is making me.” Jon got so excited talking about this that it made Arya smile. “He should be done with it now. I have to pick it up soon.” 

“Then let’s go to Fleabottom. Just you and me. It can be like when we were little and we used to disappear for hours.” 

Jon stopped walking and down at her. “We can’t just go to Fleabottom Arya. I have things to do and we can’t leave without any guards. It is very dangerous for the two of us to go out on our own.” 

“Then we’ll just have to blend in! I still remember which secret passageways lead out to Fleabottom. Please Jon.” She said tugging on his arm. “Let’s disappear for the day.” 

“Arya I can’t.”

“Well I’m going to go to Fleabottom whether you come with me or not.” she crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Gods you’re stubborn!” He through his hands up in frustration. “Fine!” Jon knew that he would get in trouble for this, but the large smile that appeared on Arya’s face cleared all thoughts from his brain. Who cares if he gets in trouble? Jon decides that if Arya gets to smile like that, than it is worth it! 

“I’ll meet you outside your chamber in twenty minutes.” And with that, Jon watched as Arya quickly turned and started running to her chamber. 

Once Arya was in her room, she grabbed one of her daggers and placed it in her boot. She changed out of her leather jerkin and put on a light tunic. She made sure that Needle was by her side before grabbing a bag that contained her money. She looked at herself in the mirror and was reminded of how she looked when she was living on the streets in Essos. Before she let those thoughts take over her mind, she left her room and began walking towards Jon’s chamber. 

As Arya walked through the Red Keep, she was reminded of all the times Jon and her would run around as children. All the times they would drive their fathers crazy as they would disappear for hours. Arya didn’t need to ask Jon where his chamber was. She remembered how the two of them used to raid the kitchen and then go back to his rooms and eat as many desserts as they wanted. When Arya reached Jon’s chamber she knocked twice before he answered the door. 

“You’re wearing that?” Were the first words out of Arya’s mouth. 

“What’s wrong with it?” Jon was dressed in long black pants, a black leather jerkin which lay on top on his long black tunic. And his valyrian steel sword Longclaw rested on his side. 

“Jon we are trying to blend in. Everyone in the city knows that you only wear black.” Arya walked into Jon’s room and began going through his clothes. She pulled out brown breeches, a tan colored tunic, and a brown jerkin. “Wear this.” She said as she held up the outfit. “And make sure that the jerkin covers the pummel of your sword. Everyone will be able to tell it is you if they see it.” 

Jon stared at his cousin, trying to form a response in his mind. He still stood in the doorway with his mouth hanging open. 

“Jon?” Arya said trying to get his attention. 

He blinked twice releasing that she is standing only two feet away from him. She handed him his new clothes to change into and went to change behind a partition which stood in his large room. When he emerged Arya gave him her approval and the two began to sneak down the corridors until they reached the dungeons. 

“I noticed Balareons absence from the throne room. When did the King have him moved to the dungeons?” Arya asked as she stood in front of a dragon skull at least three times her height. The Throne room used to be covered in dragon skulls. After Robert’s rebellion, the newly made King Rhaegar ordered for all of the dragon skulls to be placed in the dungeons, all except Balerion the Black Bread. It’s skull used to rest in the center of the Throne room. 

“Father had it taken to the dungeons three years ago. I’m not sure why.” No one knew why. One day Rhaegar decided that he did not want to look at the skulls any longer so they were sent to the dungeon. It surprised many when the King decided to send his favorite skull to the dungeons almost twenty years later. 

The two stood staring at Balerion for a few minutes before Arya’s hand pulled at Jons to keep moving. 

When they were finally outside the Red Keeps walls, Arya couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. The two walked up and down the streets, stopping every once in a while if they wanted to buy something they saw. Sometimes people would give Jon strange looks as if they recognized him but weren't sure from where, but they would then carry on their way and ignore them. 

As they were walking, Arya saw two younger children, no older than seven, who were laying against the wall of a building. These children were so unhealthily skinny. It was clear that they were starving. Arya went up to a small shop and bought a loaf of bread and gave it to the young children. 

After walking around for an hour or so, the pair decided to go to a inn to get some food. The inn was small, yet busy. Many people have been coming to King’s Landing to compete in the tourney for Robb and Daenerys wedding. They ordered Flea Bottoms famous bowl of brown along with two horns of ale. 

“What do you think of the city?” Jon asked once they were seated with their food. 

“It’s not too different from when we were little.” She said. “The streets still smell like shit, the people still live in poverty. But it doesn’t look as big as it used to.” Arya looked up in time to see the contorted face Jon made once he tried his bowl of brown. 

“Seven hells that’s fowl! How could people eat this?” 

Arya looked down at her food, she tried it, looked at Jon, and shrugged. She tried to determine what type of meat was in it, but she could not tell. Overall it truly wasn’t terrible. Was it good? No. But not terrible. 

“How are you not disgusted by this?” 

“Believe me, I’ve had to eat so much worse when I was on the run.” Arya waited for Jon to respond, but their was just silence. When she looked up at him he was looking at her with sad eyes. Arya knew that expression. Pity. “Stop looking at me like that Jon!” She shoved his arm ruffly. “Stop pitying me! This is one of the reasons I don’t tell people about when I was away. I’m tired of being pitied!” 

A few people had looked over towards them, but most ignored the two. “Arya,” Jon said as he reached over and grabbed one of her hands, “I don’t pity you.” 

“Yes you do. Everyone does.” She got up and walked over to the counter to get another ale. When she came back, she stood in front of the table, and took a big swig of her drink and looked slightly happier. “Anyway, Jon you need to have your father do something about the cities poverty. Those children that I gave bread to were not the only hungry children out there.”

“I know,” Jon said, “We are currently working a system that will allow-” 

“Hello beautiful!” A drunken man sauntered over and stood slightly behind Arya putting his hands on her waist. “You must be new around here.” His eyes poured over her body and a low moan escape his throat. His hands slowly made their way up so they were resting on her ribcage. 

“I think you should get your hands off me” Arya said calmly, looking straight at the wall in front of her. 

“And why would I want to do that?” He said as he slowly raised his hands up her side. 

“She said to take your hands off of her!” Jon said through gritted teeth. 

“Tell your friend to calm down sweetheart.” He whispered in Arya’s ear. His breath reeked of ale. “We’re only having a good time” His hands raised higher so now they was resting on her breasts. 

Jon was about to yank him off of her, but in less than a second the man’s back was against their table and Arya was standing over him with a dagger held to his throat. Her eyes bore into his. “I told you to get your hands off of me.” Her voice was eerie. All emotion was missing. Hollow. The whole inn was silent. All eyes were on Arya. “Men like you always take advantage of woman who can’t defend themselves. I think it’s about time that that stops happening.” As she spoke she took her dagger and started tracing the veins in his neck. “Don’t you agree?” The man’s eyes were wide staring at her. “I asked you a question.” She raised her dagger to the man’s face and placed it back to his throat once blood was pouring down his cheek. “I said, don’t you agree?” She said once more. 

“Yes… yes I do… Ma'am.” He whispered. 

“Now get out.” She said. The man ran out of the Inn as fast as he could with a few of his friends following quickly behind him. Arya straitened, wiped her dagger on her shirt, placed it back in her boot, and sat down. 

Jon stared at her dumbfounded. He tried, but he couldn’t get any words out. Arya Just continued eating her bowl of brown as if nothing had happened. 

“Are you alright?” Jon was finally able to ask. Arya looked at him as if he were daft. 

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” She took a swig of ale waiting for him to respond. 

“Why wouldn’t you be? Arya! Do you not remember what happened one minute ago? That man attacked you!” 

“I think I did more to him than he did to me Jon.” She said with a smile. 

Jon let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn’t understand why Arya didn’t seem affected by what happened. He didn’t know what to say so he decided to derail the conversation slightly. “I didn’t know that you brought a dagger with you.” 

“I usually try to have at least two weapons with me at all times.” Arya said plainly.

“How many do you have on you now?” 

“Four”

_Four?!?_ “All right. You have Needle, the dagger in your boot. Where are the other two?”

She raised her eyebrow as if to say, _‘Well wouldn’t you want to know.’_

The rest of their meal was eaten in silence. Once they were done, they began walking to Jon’s favorite street, The Street of Steel. 

Jon was excited to introduce Arya to Tobho Mott. Jon had complete respect for this man. He was the best blacksmith Jon had ever seen. Once they reached Tobho’s forge, Jon saw him hammering a sword with complete concentration. He was engrossed in his work. Jon’s wishes he were talented enough to forge a blade. Yes Jon knows that he can wield a blade better than most in the Kingdom, but having the ability to create a blade has always been something that interested him. _‘One day,’_ he thinks, _‘One day I will learn.’_

Once Tobho was finished hammering his blade, he looked up and nearly dropped the weapon in his hands. “Prince Jon.” He said bowing. 

“Tobho, it is nice to see you again. May I introduce to you Lady Arya Stark of Winterfell.” Jon gestured to Arya who smiled up at the old man. 

“My Lady,” Tobho said bowing once more. 

“There is no need to bow, and I am not a Lady.” Arya said as she examined the man in front of her. He had a small amount of blonde hair resting on his head. Sweat dripped down his forehead. He looked exhausted, yet content. “Mr. Mott I have heard much about you. Jon speaks very highly of you.” 

“I’m honored my Prince.” 

Jon and Tobho began talking about Jon’s armour and Arya began inspecting the weapons showcased in his forge. Arya had to admit that she was impressed. The detail that went into each blade she saw amazed her. Every piece of armor looked spotless. The steel felt strong. 

“Arya,” Jon asked, “would you like to see my armour?” 

Arya nodded her head and walked into the back room. Once she saw the armour, her jaw dropped. The entire thing was black, _surprise, surprise,_ but it was absolutely beautiful. The breastplate had two small red dragons on the top. Underneath the breastplate was hidden chainmail. There was nothing special about the armour, it was one color, but just by looking at it you can tell that the person wearing is a force to be reckoned with. “It’s beautiful.” She said as her fingers traced visor on the helmet. “Absolutely magnificent.” 

“Thank you my Lady.” Tobho said. 

“I’m not a La-” Arya’s attention was suddenly draw to the dagger which was sitting on a table in the corner. Arya walked over to the dagger and unsheathed it. The dagger was beautiful. It was crisp and smooth. You could see the ridges of the steel in the blade. 

“Valyrian steel?” Arya asked in amazement.

“Yes, and it’s hilt is made with dragon glass.” 

“How did you…” Arya was at a loss for words. It was very rare to come across a valyrian steel weapon. Jon and her father were extremely fortunate to have one in their possession. 

“I won that dagger years ago.” Tobho said as he stared at the blade in her hands. “I’ve been in contact with a few men who are interested in buying it off me. They should be here when the tourney begins.”

“How much do you want for it?” Arya asked. Jon’s head snapped up to see the fascination etched on her face.

“Quite a lot, I’m afraid.” 

“I’ll pay however much you wish.” Arya pulled out a large pouch of money and tossed it on the table. “If you want more, I shall get more.” 

Tabho picked up the large pouch and his eyes widened at the large pile of gold dragons in the bag. He emptied its contents and began to count. He counted one-hundred gold dragons. “The dagger is yours! The dagger is yours!” 

“Why did you bring that much gold with you?” Jon asked once they were out of earshot. 

“For emergencies. You never know when a crisis will arise.” 

Jon and Arya stayed at Tobho Motts shop for another thirty minutes before leaving to return to the Castle. Jon decided to come back another time to collect his armour. Arya examined the dagger as they walked. When they were about ten minutes from the castle, a sickly man around the age of eight and ten approached them. 

“Excuse me.” He said. “Are you Arya Stark?” 

Arya saw Jon’s eyes widen in alarm as he looked at her. “Yes, who's asking.” 

A sickly sweet smile formed on his face. “Valar Morghulis.” He said as he pulled out a large knife and lunged at Arya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I'm not sure if i'll be able to post next Monday because I have now officially posted all of this story that I had written, but I will try   
> Anyway, thanks again for reading!   
> Hope you enjoyed!


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